


Like Flowers to the Sun

by BayleyWinchester



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cliche, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Fluff, High School, M/M, Sports, Teen Romance, shitty parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-09-24 16:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 39,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17104304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BayleyWinchester/pseuds/BayleyWinchester
Summary: "Achilles there’s a new kid at school that (I think) is your type and has the locker next to you."~~Patroclus hadn't wanted to move but then who did? He hadn't wanted to start a new school in the middle of the year. Until Achilles had walked into his English class and smiled.Cue friends, drama, way too much handholding and love.~~Or the Modern High School Illiad that's been in my head since I was a first-year senior in school.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Woo Baby 
> 
> 1) I don't live in the US so I'm making educated guesses as to how school works.  
> 2) This is the fastest burn I've like, ever written, but if anyone deserves that it's our boys.  
> 3) This is based mainly on TSOA but has the Iliad influences.  
> 4) Patroclus has a shitty dad, emotional abuse and neglect. I won't get into it because of *spoilers* but I want everyone to know so they can proceed with caution. There will be a warning on any chapters that delve into this part of the story. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

First days were never fun. Especially when it was high school. First days where everyone had already been at said school for a term? Even less fun. This was what Patroclus was facing as he stood in front of Ilium High School. Other students were bustling around, pushing past him to get inside. The building itself wasn’t intimidating, quite the opposite in fact. Huge white columns lined the entrance, the entire building was made out of white marble that glistened in the sun. It was actually very beautiful. But still, Patroclus didn’t want to walk inside. 

He was about to take his next step when a girl stopped in front of him. Her dark hair surrounded her face in large waves and she was smiling brightly. “Hi, I’m Briseis.”

“Patroclus.”

“You’re new,” she said, tilting her head to the side slightly. “Aren’t you?” 

“Yeah, I am.”

Before he could blink she had linked their arms and had started pulling him towards the entry. “That’s awesome, I’ll take you to the office so you can get your timetable. Where did you come from?” 

“Uh, Opus high.”

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s kind of small, and not around here,” Patroclus replied as they walked in. Inside there were even more kids, leaning against lockers and chatting with their friends or walking down the hallways. A few odd looks were sent to Patroclus. He could hardly blame them, he would probably be doing the same. At least none of the glances where glares. The office was just beside the entrance, so it didn’t take them long to get there. 

“I’ve got to get to class,” Briseis said. “I’m meeting with my teacher before first period. But I’ll see you around,” she went to leave before she stopped herself. “Give me your number,” she demanded, whipping her phone out. Patroclus typed in his number to her contact list and let her text him. “Send me a photo of your timetable when you have it. See you around, Pat!”

Patroclus smiled and waved at her before she disappeared into the throngs of people. The smile dropped off his face when he turned back around. He pushed open the heavy blue door and walked inside. There was only one other kid in the room, a boy around his age who was almost pouting as he sat in one of the hard plastic seats. Both he and the receptionist looked up at the sound of the door. They both stared at Patroclus for a moment before the receptionist spoke, “Patroclus, right?” 

“Yes,” he nodded. The other boy watched Patroclus as he walked to the desk.

“Welcome to Ilium High,” she said with a cheery smile. Patroclus couldn’t help but feel like it was completely fake. “You’re stuff’s all in here,” she handed him a purple manila folder with some paper in it. His timetable, a photocopied map that didn’t look helpful at all, his locker info, and his ID card. “Your first class is just down the hall and to the left, any problems don’t hesitate to come and ask for help.” 

The boy who was sitting in the chair stood. “I’ll show him around.”

“Thank you, Odysseus, but we need to discuss-”

“I won’t start fights in the hallway anymore,” he dismissed with a wave. “Come on, Patroclus, was it?” Patroclus nodded at him and the two of them walked out of the office, leaving a very annoyed receptionist behind. The hallways were even busier now, people pushing each other to get through. After they walked out Odysseus took the folder, leafing through it and pulling out the locker info. “Cool, you’re right next to a friend. It’s just down here,” the two of them started walking. People parted as they moved through the crowds. Stares sent by everyone they passed. 

“Thank you,” Patroclus said as they turned a corner. “For helping.” 

Odysseus shrugged, “beats having to discuss my behaviour again. It’s not my fault everyone here is so easy to manipulate.”

The statement was extremely odd and Patroclus didn’t really know where to start, but luckily he didn’t need to. A very pretty girl came to a stop right in front of them, her wavy blonde hair piled on her head and a white dress flowing around her. She placed her hand on Odysseus’s chest with an annoyed expression. “Everyone?” 

“Not everyone,” Odysseus conceded before leaning down to kiss her forehead. “Penelope, this is Patroclus. New kid. Patroclus, this is my amazing girlfriend Penelope.” 

Penelope smiled at him, “lovely to meet you.”

“You too,” Patroclus said. 

“And you’re locker is that one there,” Odysseus said, pointing to a locker a few meters from them. He took Patroclus’ timetable out of the folder before handing it all back to him. “And first period is down the hall and to the right, room 103. Rule of thumb, never listen to faculty in regards to where things are. We have second together, I’ll come and get you.” 

“Oh, you don’t have -”

“My teacher will let me out early if I do,” Odysseus interrupted with a sly smile. Penelope laughed, lightly hit his chest, and the two of them were gone. Patroclus turned to his locker and opened it up, dust covered the top shelf but Patroclus ignored that, placing all his books from his bag in there. He quickly sent a picture of his timetable to Briseis with a smiling emoji. Just as he was finishing up the bell rang, people sighed across the hall and started making their way to their classes. Patroclus grabbed out his first period - English - book and closed his locker. 

Odysseus had been right, the receptionist would have gotten him completely lost if he had followed her direction. He pushed the door open and stepped in, almost instantly everyone stopped talking in favour of staring at him. An older man nodded at him from his teacher desk, “Patroclus I guess?” He asked, Patroclus nodded and everyone went back to talking amongst themselves. “I’m Nestor. We’re doing Epic Poetry, I’m sure you can catch up. Go ahead and sit in the back row, last on the left.”

Patroclus nodded and moved down the centre of the class to the back. Each side of the class had four seats, aside from the back where there was just two. Patroclus took the furthest left like had been told to do. He had a few more minutes before the class started so he checked his phone. Briseis had already replied; a series of smiling emojis and then a declaration that they shared lunch and seventh period. 

As he was sending his reply (a simple ‘awesome!’) the chair next to him was pulled out. He pocketed his phone before looking to his right. The boy sitting next to him took his breath away. Golden hair that framed his face, perfect glowing skin and a relaxed smile. Patroclus felt himself heating up under his stare. The smile on his face grew even wider and he stuck out one hand. “Achilles.” 

Patroclus took his hand, “Patroclus.” 

“I know,” Achilles replied. Patroclus didn’t know what to say to that. Achilles laughed a little at Patroclus’s face, “Odysseus text me. Said you were new and that we shared this class.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Top tip, nothing with Odysseus makes sense. So, welcome to Ilium high! Home of the Warriors-” a cheer went up in the class which Achilles ignored and made Patroclus uncomfortable, were they listening to the conversation? “-and the worst cafeteria food you’ll ever have.”

Two more boys made their way to the back row, one of the fist bumped Achilles while the other dragged the table and chairs to make one long table. Nestor looked up at the noise with a sigh but said nothing. They both sat down, the one that had fist bumped beside Achilles and the other on the opposite end to Patroclus. “Patroclus, this is Menelaus and Agamemnon. Guys, this is Patroclus.”

“The one Odysseus was talking about,” Menelaus said, waving at Patroclus who waved back. 

“Obviously,” Agamemnon replied. Both Menelaus and Achilles rolled their eyes at him. 

Achilles was going to speak when the second bell rang and Nestor stood while the projector flicked on. “We’re starting our assignment today. It’s due next Monday, so you have one week to complete this, and you’ll be working in pairs. Each pair will get an Epic to research and then compare to a modern day movie. Make sure to look at structure rather than plot. I want it in essay form, no less than three pages. You’ll have all this week in class to work on this. Get into your pairs so I can give you your poem.”

“Want to be my partner?” Achilles asked Patroclus, he was leaning back on his chair now, his hands behind his head. Patroclus thought he looked even better than before. He nodded in reply. “Awesome. Get used to this kind of project, Nestor hates teaching so we hardly ever actually do work. More often than not we have to do it by ourselves.” 

“Why is he a teacher then?” Patroclus muttered to himself, but Achilles heard and laughed with a nod. 

Menelaus lent forward, looking at Patroclus. “So, where are you from?” 

“That’s not class time talk,” Nestor said as he arrived at their desk. “And I asked you not to move the furniture.”

“Just making sure Patroclus feels welcome,” Menelaus replied easily. “And we’ll put the desks back. We always do.” 

Nestor didn’t reply, he just handed both pairs a slip of paper. “Monday. No excuses.”

“Of course,” Agamemnon replied. He, Menelaus and Achilles all nodded in sync. Nestor just sighed again before walking away. 

Achilles and Menelaus turned back to Patroclus expectantly. “Oh, I transferred from Opus high,” Patroclus answered. “We moved.”

“Where’s Opus?” Menelaus asked.

“Not near here,” Patroclus said. “In the middle of nowhere.”

“The best place to live,” Menelaus replied sarcastically. Patroclus laughed quietly and shook his head. 

“Why’d you move?” Achilles asked, who now looked rather put out. His face visibly brighter when Patroclus turned to him, Patroclus didn’t really know how to deal with that. Menelaus turned to Agamemnon after he got tapped on the shoulder. 

Patroclus half shrugged, “my dad’s work. Opus is awful compared to anywhere else. I didn’t like the school. Take your pick I guess.” 

“Well,” Achilles said moving so that his arm was resting on the back of Patroclus’s chair, and Patroclus was well aware of it. Warmth basically radiated from Achilles. “I hope you like Ilium high.” 

“So far so good.”

“I’ll show you who to be friends with,” Achilles promised after a beat of silence. “You don’t want to get involved with some of the kids here.”

That sounded more like Opus high. “Yeah? Who shouldn’t I get involved with?”

“Hector and Paris. They’re brothers and the most annoying people you’ll ever meet. We’re kind of enemies.”

“Aren’t you a little young to have enemies.” 

Achilles turned serious. “These guys, and all their friends, are dicks. No redeeming qualities-”

“-aside from being good football players,” Menelaus interrupted. 

With a sigh Achilles nodded. “Yeah, okay. They’re good at football. Menelaus and Agamemnon are on the team, and our other friend Diomedes. You’ll meet him at some point, I’m sure.”

“Do you play any sports?” Menelaus asked, cutting Achilles off again. 

“Not really,” Patroclus shrugged. 

“Our boy Achilles here is best in state, probably the country let’s be real, for track.”

“Really?” Patroclus asked, turning to Achilles, who was practically preening at the words and look of awe on Patroclus’s face. “That’s really cool.”

Achilles nodded, feeling shy for the first time in - in well forever. Menelaus was grinning at them both. “You should come watch him practise. Every afternoon.”

“I’d like that,” Patroclus answered. “And I don’t have anything on.”

“Awesome, if you want, we could so some of this-” he waved their sheet of paper in the air (a piece of paper that Patroclus had completely forgotten about) “-afterwards. My dad won’t be home so we’ll have the place to ourselves.” 

“Sound’s good.”

Menelaus started cooing from beside them, causing both of them to look over at him in startled confusion. Agamemnon rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone. “You two are just so cute! Slightly awkward, but cute. Which is fine, Helen and I were awkward at first, weren't we, Agamemnon?” Agamemnon didn’t reply but Menelaus took it in stride. Patroclus could feel his face burning and his heart was racing, whereas Achilles looked completely at ease with the conversation. “And now we’re the best couple in school.” 

“I thought that was Penelope and Odysseus,” Achilles replied dryly. 

“Shut up,” Menelaus replied. Apparently, he was too loud seeing as Nestor looked up sharply and pointed at the door. Menelaus sighed and gathered up his things. “I stand by my statement, you two are cute.”

“Menelaus, out,” Nestor called. Agamemnon laughed at Menelaus’s situation, which made Nestor look to him. “Agamemnon you can go to. You’re going to make me lose my mind. The both of you,” Nestor said angrily before going back to his book. Agamemnon scowled at Menelaus, who was now grinning. The both of them left the room, pushing each other as they walked down the path in the middle of the room. A few of the girls giggled as they watched. 

Achilles took his arm off the back of Patroclus’s chair, almost instantly Patroclus missed the feeling of it brushing against his back. Which, at least to Patroclus, wasn’t a good thing to be thinking. He had only known the guy for half an hour and didn’t even know if he was gay. “I feel for any teacher who has them, I feel for their parents as well.”

“They’re brothers?”

“Yup. And they annoy the absolute hell out of each other. Makes school entertaining for us though,” Achilles explained. Patroclus laughed lightly, he had had no idea that they were siblings. They seemed so different. “Hey, what do you have next?”

“Maths, stats.”

“With Odysseus.”

Patroclus nodded, “he said he was meeting me here to take me.”

“He said so.”

“When?”

“He text the group chat this morning, said the locker next to me was taken by a new kid called Patroclus and that he was going to take you to your next class.”

“A group chat?”

Achilles nodded this time, “Yeah, us, Menelaus and Agamemnon, Diomedes, both Ajax’s, Helen and Penelope. The gang.”

“Your friends.”

“Yup. I’ll introduce you at lunch. I’ll come and get you from fourth.”

“You really don’t have to,” Patroclus said. Achilles just smiled, not actually replying. 

At the front of the room, Nestor looked up, glaring at the two of them. Patroclus shrunk under the look while Achilles held the old teacher’s gaze steadily. Patroclus was amazed at the casual confidence Achilles presented to the world. “Are you two planning to do any work this period?” Nestor asked his tone like nails on a chalkboard. “Or are you just having a nice little chat?”

“Why not both, sir?”

“If you want to chat, you can join your friends at the office,” Nestor proposed. Achilles was about to reply, another biting comment when he looked over at Patroclus, who looked like he was about to faint on the spot. Usually, other people didn’t really factor into Achilles plans but Patroclus was different. Achilles hadn’t figured out why just yet, but he was. So Achilles picked up the piece of paper and waved it like a white flag. Nestor looked pleased and it took everything in him, but Achilles didn’t call back out. 

The two of them worked in near silence for the rest of the period, each taking a chapter to read of their epic - Beowulf - before they would reconvene after school. The period seemed to fly by as they worked. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, quite the opposite in fact. They felt like they had known each other for years, that this was completely and undoubtedly normal for them. Which, of course, it wasn’t. But neither of them questioned it, instead, they enjoyed each other’s company until the bang rang out, interrupting their little world. 

“I’ll see you later,” Achilles said as they packed up. He ripped a corner of paper from his book and scribbled something down on it before handing it to Patroclus, it was his phone number with two ‘XX’s under it. Patroclus had to hide his smile. “Text me your schedule.”

“Alright,” Patroclus agreed. Before he could even blink Achilles lent forward and pressed a kiss to Patroclus’s cheek. Patroclus didn’t even have time to register what had happened by the time Achilles had left the room. He stared down at the note in his hand while his fingers ghosted over his cheek. 

“You’re disgusting,” Odysseus said, leaning against the door frame. “But it’s kinda cute.”

Patroclus started stuttering in reply, his face hot, “uh, I, uh.” 

“We’re gonna be late, and if I’m late again Penelope is going to kill me. So let’s go.” 

“Yeah, alright, I’m coming.”

The two of them left the room, Nestor grunting after them. “You’ll see him in a few hours, you know,” Odysseus said as they walked through the halls. Patroclus was trying to memorise the route they were taking so it took him a moment to figure out what he was saying. 

“Wait, no. It’s not-”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not,” Patroclus said but even he could hear the unsure tint in his tone.

Odysseus just laughed, shaking his head knowingly as the two of them made their way to their next class.


	2. Chapter 2

Maths was rather uneventful; he sat next to Odysseus and had been given a whole lot of homework so that he could catch up. When class was over, Odysseus took Patroclus to his next class and pointed him in the right direction for fourth period. Patroclus thanked him again, to which Odysseus said he didn’t need to do, and disappeared. Third period was latin, something that Patroclus was already comfortable with, and fourth was classics. 

When Patroclus got to his seat he pulled out his phone and the note Achilles had written for him. He created a contact with the number and sent him a text that just read ‘hey, it’s Patroclus’. It only took a moment for Achilles to reply, which made Patroclus smile, a smiley face emoji and a request for Patroclus’s timetable. Patroclus sent him a picture of his timetable just as the bell went so he had to slip his phone away. The teacher stood and started her lesson. 

The lesson droned on. Patroclus had already covered the majority of what was being taught at his old school. Latin was one of his favourite lessons at school but it sort of saddened him to not have someone he knew (or, more importantly, that Achilles knew) in the class. It wasn’t all bad though, the students in the class weren’t mean and a whole lot of them introduce themselves during the lesson which made Patroclus feel like he had been at the school for much longer than he had been. 

Fourth period came around and Patroclus made his way to the next classroom, which was just down the hallway. He was about to walk in the room when someone called out his name. A boy Patroclus didn’t know was bounding down the corridor. When he got to Patroclus he wrapped his arm around Patroclus’ shoulders with a grin and pushed them both into the classroom. The teacher looked up, stared at them for a moment, and looked down. The boy led Patroclus to a desk in the middle of the class.

“I’m Diomedes and I’m sure you’ve heard of me,” he said with a laugh once they were both sitting down. “I’ve heard about you.”

“You’re on the football team, right?” Patroclus asked, thinking back to Achilles and his conversation. 

“Yup. Quarterback if we want to get technical. I’m really glad that you’re in this class, I don’t have any friends but I do have-” he was interrupted by the door opening and slamming against the wall “them.”

Three people walked into the room, all boys that looked like they played sports. By Diomedes look and tone it was clear he didn’t like the newcomers. The three of them turned to look at Patroclus and Diomedes before making their way over. Diomedes sighed and muttered something under his breath that Patroclus didn’t catch. They arrived opposite Patroclus, regarding him with glares. 

“Patroclus, this is Hector, Paris and Aeneas.” 

“Ah, this is Patroclus,” the one in the middle - Hector - replied. “We heard about you.”

“Yeah, and now you’ve met him. So you’re free to go.”

“We’re just looking,” Paris snapped. 

Diomedes was about to reply when the teacher cleared his throat at the front of the room, catching their attention. Hector and Paris glared at Diomedes while Aeneas continued to watch Patroclus. Then they turned and left. Once they were sitting, at the front of the room Diomedes started speaking again. Although it was now a hushed whisper. “Hector, Paris and Aeneas are like our -”

“-Enemies,” Patroclus cut in, “right? Achilles said so.”

“Yeah. It’s such bullshit, and they started it.”

“What happened?” Patroclus asked. 

“So two junior highs feed into this school, right? Well, we all went to Hellenistic Junior and they went to Troy Junior and we were popular in our respective schools. When we get here there’s like this tension between who’s going to be the popular ones. Achilles made it way worse as well. He didn’t go to Junior high around here, so he just kind of arrived and became popular. Hector really doesn’t like him.”

Patroclus nodded along, trying to pay attention but was really just thinking about how strange popular kids are. Most people just worried about their grades, or their friend group. Not to this level. “So, you’re fighting because you want to be the popular ones.” 

“Basically. It got worse when Achilles became friends with us, you must know that he’s an amazing runner. He bested everyone in the school his first year. So Paris and Hector were, and are, jealous of him. ‘Cause, our team is good, right. We do well. But we’re not as famous as Achilles.”

“Oh,” Patroclus muttered, his face heating up at the image of Achilles running. Because he was gorgeous sitting in a chair in class, Patroclus could hardly imagine what he was like in his element. “Right.”

Diomedes looked at Patroclus like he knew what he was thinking. “Yup. There’s other stuff as well, Paris tried to get with Menelaus girlfriend last year. Odysseus is one of the smartest students here, and he doesn’t let them forget it. What about you? Do you play any sports?”

“No,” Patroclus replied with a small laugh. Just as Diomedes went to reply, his own smile on his face, their teacher stood up and finally started the class. 

Fourth period went smoothly, classics was something else that Patroclus enjoyed. He was given more homework, to add to the pile, and was about to leave after the bell had gone when the teacher called him to his desk. “I apologize for not introducing myself earlier,” he said when Patroclus got to his desk. “I’m Chiron and am the only classics teacher at the school and one of the coaches. Do you have previous classics experience?”

“Yes, my old school taught it.” 

“Great,” he muttered as he rummaged through his briefcase. “I have this test for you to do, it should take about ten minutes. It’s to see what you can do, so I can know if you need extra material to catch up.”

“Thank you,” Patroclus replied as he put the paper in his bag. 

“If you could have it by tomorrow, that would be great,” Chiron said with a calm and gentle smile on his face, peering around Patroclus. “And now I’m sure that your friends want me to let you go,” Patroclus turned around to see that what he meant and was shocked at the sight. Achilles was leaning against the door frame, a smile lighting up his face when Patroclus looked at him, Patroclus returned the smile with his face with his hot. Behind Achilles, Diomedes and Odysseus stood looking into the classroom, both waving once when Patroclus looked. If his face wasn’t hot before, it was definitely hot now. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Chiron said when Patroclus looked back at him. 

Patroclus smiled back and turned, walking to the door. When he got there, Achilles stepped back so that Patroclus could step into the hallway before wrapping his arm around Patroclus’s shoulders. He also plucked the binders Patroclus was carrying, placing them in his other arm. Patroclus was very aware of how warm he felt with Achilles arm around him like that. “How was the rest of your day?” Achilles asked as they walked down the hallway together. He seemed to not care about the looks they were getting. 

“It’s been good. I like my classes.”

“That’s great, Chiron’s awesome. He’s my track coach.”

“Really?”

Achilles nodded, “has been since I got here. He’s an amazing coach.”

“Who is?” A boy Patroclus hadn’t met yet asked. He was walking towards them, Penelope by his side. He stopped a few meters from them and turned so that he fell into step with them towards - what Patroclus guessed was - the cafeteria. Penelope didn’t stop walking, instead, she walked right up to Odysseus, who wrapped his arm around her. Not unlike Achilles and Patroclus. 

“Chiron,” Achilles replied as the new boy side eyed Patroclus. Or maybe he was side eyeing how Patroclus and Achilles were walking. Patroclus couldn't figure it out. “Ajax, this is Patroclus. Patroclus, Ajax. Or one of them. This is the little one.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ajax said and Patroclus nodded back at him. Ajax turned to Achilles and said “fuck you,”, and Achilles just shrugged at Patroclus like ‘what can you do?’. Then Ajaz turned to everyone. “Alright, did you guys hear the latest news? Happened this period.” 

Odysseus rolled his eyes and Diomedes leant forward in interest. “It’s pretty big,” Penelope said. “And it happened in our class.” 

“Well, I guess it also happened in Patroclus and Diomedes,” Ajax said. “So, you know how there was that party at Ajax’s last Friday? That Paris and Hector crashed?” Everyone bar Patroclus murmured that they remembered it. Ajax turned to Patroclus, “to recap, so basically, Paris, the devil in a polo shirt, was all up in Helen’s face when Menelaus was upstairs. Now, this period Paris kept texting Helen, who was not into it. I mean, she likes Menelaus, right? She gets me to message him, telling him to piss off. I do. He messages back that I should stay out of his and her business so I tell Helen to send screenshots to Menelaus. She does. He’s pissed as fuck. Starts messaging Paris, nothing nice as you’d guess. He’s sending Helen the screenshots and she’s showing me. Hector gets involved, messaging Helen and blaming her for all this. So Menelaus is now double pissed and basically challenges Paris to a fight.” He stops talking and takes a deep breath. 

“Are they going to?” Diomedes asked.

Ajax shrugged, “Menelaus seemed pretty pissed.”

“This is turning out to be an eventful first day,” Achilles said looking at Patroclus. 

“Yeah, I think this is more exciting than any day at my old school.”

“Are you keeping up?”

“I guess?”

Achilles laughed, the sound like music to Patroclus. Like an angel and not a man. “Just know that Paris and Hector are always wrong, and always dicks.”

“That’s all you need to know,” Ajax said. The doors to the cafeteria appeared as they turned another corner. This high school was set out like a maze, Patroclus didn’t know if he’d ever get used to it. Ajax pushed the doors open, letting everyone else in before him. Achilles steered Patroclus to a table in the centre of the room, just off the left. Agamemnon, Menelaus and who Patroclus assumed to be Helen were already sitting there, trays for everyone laid out. 

“Nice, free food,” Diomedes said sitting down. 

“You gotta pay Helen back,” Menelaus grumbled. 

“Sorry,” Helen muttered. “I was stressed.”

“So you got everyone’s food?” Odysseus said, handing over his and Penelope's lunch money. Diomedes and Ajax did the same. 

She shrugged, “I was let out early because I was crying. Oh,” she said looking over at Patroclus. “Sorry, I didn’t know someone knew was coming, I’m Helen.”

“Patroclus,” Patroclus replied, already sick of introducing himself. “And it’s fine.”

“I’ll go and get you some-”

“Don’t worry,” Achilles cut Helen off. He sat down, pulling Patroclus down with him. One of the trays was pushed by Achilles in between the both of them. He handed money to Helen and smiled at Patroclus. “There’s plenty.”

“Not even dating and you’re buying his food,” Diomedes fake cooed. Patroclus felt himself heating up (again) and Achilles didn’t react. “So, you okay Helen?”

Again, she shrugged. Clearly trying to put on a brave face. “I-yeah. He’s a dick.”

“Menelaus or Paris?” Achilles asked, eating one of the figs on the plate and pushing the other one to Patroclus. Menelaus scoffed and Achilles grinned. The cafeteria doors opened again, Helen and Menelaus (who were facing the door) stiffened, so everyone else turned around in sync. Hector and Paris were walking in, a pack of other students trailing behind them. Patroclus recognized a few from classes but didn’t know any names. All of them were looking at the table were Patroclus was sitting. “Oh, great,” Achilles muttered under his breath as they started walking towards them.

The entire group came to a stop, standing at the head of the table. “Helen,” Paris said in greeting. He didn’t get a reply. Well, there was a reply but it wasn’t what he wanted, seeing as Diomedes whispered a drawn-out ‘awkward’. After glaring at Diomedes, Paris turned to Paris and Helen. “You really want to fight? Because I will.”

“You will?” Menelaus asked, feigning shock. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Please, I could totally take you.” 

“You and what army?”

“Everyone behind me.”

Achilles lent to whisper in Patroclus’s ear, “they’d lose. Probably in a second.”

“I can tell.”

“I could fight them all at once and win.”

“You fight as well now?” Patroclus asked. 

A grin spread on Achilles' face, “absolutely. Best of the best. I’ll fight someone for you, prove it.” 

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Oh, Achilles has a boyfriend now?” Paris sneered. Patroclus and Achilles looked up from one another to see everyone staring at them. A few of their friends with knowing grins, and most of Paris and Hector’s friend with snide glares. “I had no idea he was a homo. Shame.”

“Can I fight him now,” Achilles asked, out loud for everyone to hear. Patroclus shook his head once. He didn’t like fighting, even when they were clearly dicks like Paris was. It was never worth it in his mind. 

“I fucking will,” Menelaus snarled. “Especially if you don’t leave Helen alone.”

Paris rolled his eyes. “You don’t control her.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Helen replied quickly and clearly. 

“The lady has spoken,” Menelaus said. Hector placed his hand on Paris’s shoulder and nodded to the door. With a glare for everyone sitting, they left the cafeteria. “God, they’re such dicks.”

“They are,” Odysseus nodded, “but are they right about Achilles having a boyfriend? Or...”

Achilles shrugged, looking straight at Patroclus. “If everything goes according to plan.”


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone was staring at Patroclus. Everyone on the table at least. Patroclus, in return, was staring at Achilles. A part of him felt disbelief at the situation while another tried to rationalise it all - Achilles wasn’t talking about him. He was also very aware of Achilles staring at him. He couldn’t understand the way he was looking, a mix of hopelessness, amusement and something that Patroclus could only describe as warmth. 

Taking pity Helen cleared her throat. “So, Patroclus, where are you from?”

“Opus, it’s far away and has nothing going for it,” he replied with a laugh.

“Why’d you move to Ilium?” Ajax asked.

“My dad wanted to,” Patroclus replied. He felt bad as he said it, it wasn’t a total lie but it wasn’t the full truth. However, it wasn’t like he could just come out and say what happened to these people that he was being friendly with. He doubted they’d appreciate it if he did anyway.

Diomedes threw a fig seed at Achilles who, because he was watching Patroclus, didn’t see until it hit him. He picked it up from the table top and threw it straight back at Diomedes. It hit the corner of his eye. He grunted in surprise, causing everyone else at the table to laugh. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered and got back to eating. 

“Are you here to stay?” Penelope asked.

“Yeah, probably. I don’t think we’ll move again.” 

Achilles looked happy with the new information presented but he didn’t say anything. He did, however, slide the food closer to Patroclus and nod towards it. Patroclus took one of the slices of pizza and Achilles took the other. “Man,” Ajax said watching them with a fake lovey expression, “sharing pizza. That’s true love right there.” 

“Shut up, Ajax,” Achilles said.

“I’m just trying to spread the love.”

“Shut up, Ajax,” Achilles replied again. 

Ajax didn’t shut up, but he did change the topic at hand. “Oh, so camping this weekend. Dad said I could take his car so long as I promise to pay him if I crash it again. So I’ll take other Ajax and Odysseus and Penelope.” 

“That’s awesome, cause mum said she needs one of the cars,” Menelaus replied, gesturing to Agamemnon with his pizza slice. “So we’re only taking the truck.”

“Do we have enough-“ Odysseus started but was interrupted by Achilles.

“Patroclus! You should come!” Everyone at the table seemed to agree with him, or at least no one had a problem with the idea. Patroclus looked around and shrugged. “We’re going camping up north at Pitha on Friday after school to Sunday afternoon.” 

Camping was something that sounded fun, Patroclus wasn’t going to lie about that. It sounded like something he wanted to do. But, there were problems he didn’t want to get into, so he thought of the first excuse he could that wasn’t a full lie. “I don’t have any camping stuff.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I have enough for you,” Achilles replied easily. 

He looked around the table again. Everyone, bar Agamemnon, looked excited at the prospect of Patroclus coming with them. But then, Patroclus didn’t think Agamemnon had the capability of being excited. He had just met these people, only a few hours ago, but they were already hopeful he was coming with them. Either this was some cosmic joke or he had gotten really, really lucky with this change of school. Achilles looked the most hopeful of them all, and Patroclus couldn’t think of anything worse than disappointing him. It was a strange thing, because he had just met him, but it wasn’t like anything he’d ever had before. But, there was the problem of Patroclus not actually knowing these people. Making friends wasn’t exactly his strong suit, he was lucky if he made a handful of acquaintances at any given school. And here he was, with the most popular kids in school looking hopeful he would come camping. 

Either they wanted to become friends or they wanted to laugh at him. Patroclus could live with the latter and, at least subconsciously, long for the former. So he nodded, it was almost against his own will but his excitement won out. He had never been camping before and had wanted to try for a long time. “Sounds great.”

Achilles positively beamed. He looked happier than Patroclus had seen so far and he looked amazingly hot. Like a Greek god. A statue carved to perfection. “Awesome, that’s amazing. I-“

He was interrupted by a female voice calling over the cafeteria, “Patroclus!” The entire table moved to look at the source of the voice. Briseis was making her way over to them, a bunch of girls following her that Patroclus didn’t know. “Patroclus, hey. How are you?”

“I’m good,” he said with a smile. “You?”

“Great. It’s good you’re settling in well,” she gestured to everyone else at the table. “I’ll see you in seventh!” And then she turned, leaving them alone, her posse of girls following. 

“How do you know Briseis?” Helen asked.

“We meet before school.”

Penelope nodded, “she’s a lovely person. Very kind. I’ve known her since elementary.” After that the table split off into different groups, Diomedes and Odysseus started discussing if they should bring fireworks to the camping trip, Menelaus was for it, Agamemnon was against it. Helen and Penelope were talking about going to a special beach a few miles down from the campsite. Ajax was complaining since they weren’t going to have a bonfire but he wanted one.

Achilles turned to Patroclus, who was watching everyone else and smiled. “Have you had enough food?” He asked and Patroclus nodded, Achilles instantly started eating more. “Sorry, I’m always hungry. Training takes up a lot.”

“Why didn’t you let me go get more then?” Patroclus asked. “I don’t want you going hungry.” 

“It’s fine. So, are you going to come to training? It won’t be very fun but, we can go out afterwards though if you want to. And the cheerleaders practice at the same time, and some of the stunts they do are amazing. So if running is boring you can watch them.”

“I -“ the mental image of Achilles running was making it hard for Patroclus to think of any words to actually form a reply. “Yeah, I want to come. And we can go out if you c-want to. I’m easy.”

He let the end of easy hang on too long and felt embarrassment flaring up inside of him. But Achilles seemed happy with the answer, so Patroclus considered it a win. “That’s great. Do you have a car?” Patroclus shook his head. “Cool, I have mine so I can drop you home. Your parents won’t mind, right?”

“No,” Patroclus shook his head. “He definitely won’t.”

“The football team do fitness on Monday’s so they might be on the field. If they are there we’ll have to go fast when we leave because all of them-“ he gestured to the table “-will try and come with us.” 

“Well now we know your plan,” Diomedes interrupted. “So jokes on you.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Achilles replied.

Menelaus looked downright devious, “we’ll storm your car. Odysseus, you in?”

“Hell y-“ Penelope cleared her throat and Odysseus’s eyes went wide. “-No. Penelope and I are going out tonight. It’s our-“ he paused and looked at her apologetically “-50-week anniversary?”

“Yeah,” Penelope said rolling her eyes. 

“Nearly a year!” Helen said, looking more excited than Penelope. “That’s amazing!” She looked at Menelaus accusingly, “why don’t we have that!?”

“Because we started dating less than a year ago?”

“You’re the worst.”

Diomedes was watching them with an annoyed expression before turning back to Achilles and Patroclus. “So where are you two going on your date?”

“It’s not a date,” Patroclus said at the time as Achilles said, “I’m not telling you.”

“Oh, a little bit of tension,” Ajax muttered. 

Helen hit his shoulder, “shut up. They’re cute.” Patroclus looked down as Helen spoke. “So you can’t go ruining their first date!” 

“It’s alright,” Achilles replied. “We’ll just ruin your date.”

“Why?” Menelaus asked.

“‘Casue Helen will be angry at you,” he replied with a smirk. Helen nodded along with, ignoring Menelaus’s dismayed grunt. The bell went after that, signalling that they had to go back to class. 

Everyone stood, collecting their trays. Menelaus collected both and his Helen’s trays before the two of them left, bickering as they went. Diomedes muttering about ‘annoying couples’ and ‘being outnumbered soon’ as they all walked out. “Patroclus, what do you have next?” Penelope asked, Achilles pushing open the door for them all. 

“Uh, biology.”

“Chem,” she smiled. “We can walk together, the rooms are near each other.” 

“Alright.”

Achilles had his arm around Patroclus’s shoulders again, he had put them there the moment they were in the hallway. He seemed to not even notice all the looks they were getting; annoyed glares at taking up the walkway and confused gawking as the most popular kid in school walked with the new kid. Patroclus found that he really, really, enjoyed having Achilles wrapped around him. The weight of his arm felt familiar, felt safe. Which didn’t make much sense, seeing as they had just met, but Achilles looked happy as well, so Patroclus wasn’t complaining. He didn’t think he could. 

They arrived a fork in the corridors, Achilles sighing and taking his arm off Patroclus. “I’ll pick you up from seventh,” he said. “Wait for me.”

“I will.” 

Patroclus and Penelope continued off by themselves, Achilles and everyone else going their separate ways. They walked in a comfortable silence for a moment before Penelope started speaking. “He likes you.”

“Pardon?”

“Achilles. I’ve never seen him so happy.”

“Really?” Patroclus asked, not able to picture Achilles as anything but happy. He guessed he hadn’t seen anything different. But that couldn’t be about him. Or at least, only him. Because, to be fair, Achilles made him very happy. And while Patroclus couldn’t see himself as the sole reason for someone’s happiness he could maybe fathom being one of the sources for the bright light in Achilles’s gaze. 

Penelope nodded solemnly, “oh yeah. He’s happy, sure. Popular, smart, good-looking, whatever. But people tend to admire him from afar. I guess he’s never been interested in someone. No one  
s ever been into him. You know? They're into him but they're not into him. Do you know what I mean?”

"I think."

"He's never had anyone that really liked him for him." 

“Never?”

“He’s never had a girlfriend, or I guess boyfriend.” 

“Is he…? You know?”

She shrugged, “never said he was, never said he wasn’t. But by the way he looks at you, I’m placing my money on it.” 

“Oh.”

“We’ll see how it goes,” she said. “You do plan on staying with us, right? Because if you don’t want to be our friend, cool, but if you go be friends with Hector and shit I’m taking it personally.”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so?”

“Good, they’re dicks. A few months ago they slashed Odysseus’s tires. It took him hours to get it fixed and to get home, I was waiting forever.” A random kid pushed past Patroclus, knocking their shoulders together and causing him to stumble. Penelope glared after him as he rushed down the hall. The two of them arrived at their doors, bio and chem were across from each other. “What do you have next?” She asked he pointed to her classroom. “Oh, cool. Well, you won’t get lost I guess. And I’ll see you on the field, I’m on the cheer team, so’s Helen.” 

Patroclus smiled at her, “see you, thanks for walking with me.” 

“No problem,” she said with a wave before disappearing into the room with a girl Patroclus didn’t know. Patroclus walked into his own classroom. The teacher directed him to a seat in the middle of the room and handed him an old and tattered textbook. They were on the same thing that he was doing at his old school so he wasn’t too far behind, which he was very thankful for. 

A few moments after the second bell had gone, Hector came into the room. He glared at Patroclus as he came to a stop next to his desk. “Great, Achilles' boy toy is my partner,” he muttered and he sat beside him. “Don’t talk to me,” he muttered. Patroclus really wanted to reply, something sarcastic or biting, but before he could Hector continued. “Why are you even here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, here? Why didn’t you stay at Opus?”

“Because I moved.”

Hector scoffed. “I know. Clearly. Look, I don’t like that there is now another person in your group. I’m sure you've heard of the whole - rivalry we’ve got going on. Alright, you have to choose a side and you’ve clearly chosen. Seeing as you’re all gooey eyes with Peleides.” He ignored Patroclus trying to deny it. “Everyone in school’s chosen a side. You chose wrong.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“How would you know?”

“I guess I trust Achilles more than you.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

At the front of the class, their teacher stood, finishing their conversation. They didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the lesson, a few glares were sent to Patroclus but he didn’t return them. Deciding to take the high road, at least for now. Making enemies on his first day of school wasn’t something he wanted to do. Although, apparently, he already had. He had said it before and he would say it again, popular kids were weird. The period ended and they packed up. Hector ignoring Patroclus as he walked out of the room. It took Patroclus a moment longer to finish packing, so when he walked to the hallway Briseis was already standing beside his door with a smile. 

Her smile was infectious, so Patroclus smiled back easily. “How are you? How’s your first day been?” She asked as they walked into the Chem class. It was set up the same way as his bio room, he was given another old workbook and took a seat beside Briseis.

“It’s been good,” he said. “Made some friends, some people hate me.”

“That’s what happens when you’re popular,” she replied. “The day’s nearly over though, so thoughts on the school?”

Instantly his thoughts went to Achilles. His hair. His eyes. His smile. His everything. “It’s good. I really like it here.”


	4. Chapter 4

Achilles was, somehow, already outside the classroom when Patroclus walked out. He was leaning on the opposite wall, facing the door. A few people, mainly girls if Patroclus was being honest, were talking to him but it was abundantly clear he wasn’t actually listening. As soon as Patroclus walked out of the room he pushed himself off the wall and made his way to Patroclus. Some of the people took the hint and left the hallway while others looked on in dismay. Achilles took the binders Patroclus was holding, waving his hand when Patroclus went to take them back. “First day, done and dusted. How are you feeling?” Achilles asked as they began to walk. 

“Good, I like this school more than my old one.”

“Really?” Achilles raised an eyebrow, turning down a corridor Patroclus hadn’t seen. “I’m glad. Truly, I’m really happy that you’re happy here. It means you’ll stay.”

“I don’t think I’m going anywhere.”

The two of them stopped beside their lockers, the hallway was full of kids still. “How much homework have you got tonight?” Achilles asked, watching Patroclus shoving things into his bag. “Because we can postpone if you need to.” 

“No,” Patroclus replied much to fast. The idea of not going on a date(?) with Achilles hurt to think about. And the look on Achilles’ face showed that he was thinking the same thing. “I don’t have that much. We can go.”

“Come on then,” Achilles said grabbing Patroclus’s hand and pulling him down the hallway towards the locker rooms. “I train for an hour on Monday’s, so if we get there fast we can leave fast. You can go and sit on the bleachers if you want to,” he pointed out the door beside the locker rooms. “And when I’m done we can go into town. I know a really nice cafe we can go to.”

Patroclus nodded, “sounds great.” The two of them parted ways then, Patroclus heading outside and Achilles heading to get changed. The field was much bigger than at Opus, a real running track and a separate area for the football players. Patroclus sat down on the lower level bleachers, some other kids were sitting around there as well but ignored Patroclus, which was fine by him. Helen and Penelope, in their cheer uniforms, waved at him as they walked by. A few paces behind them were Odysseus and Diomedes, Diomedes was in workout gear but Odysseus hadn’t changed. They came to a stop just in front of Patroclus, Odysseus jumping over the fence that separated bleachers from the field. Diomedes lent on the fence as Odysseus sat next to Patroclus, Menelaus and Agamemnon walking over to them with Achilles just walking out of the lockers. 

Odysseus took out his laptop, opening it to an essay just titled ‘Assholes 4’. “You all owe me ten bucks,” he muttered. Menelaus laughed as he lent on the fence. “I’m serious, fifteen if you want it to be an A.”

“If I got an A in math they’d know it wasn’t me,” Diomedes replied. “Go for a, I don’t know, B? Yeah, that sounds good.” 

Menelaus turned to Patroclus, ignoring Odysseus grumbling at his friend. “So, happy that the days over?” 

“It’s not over,” Odysseus replied, turning to Patroclus. “Now we watch them all exercise. It’s the highlight of the day.” 

“If you don’t like it, don’t wait for us,” Agamemnon replied, his tone clearly indicating they’d had this conversation before. 

“You’re my ride home.”

Diomedes scoffed, “Patroclus isn’t going to be watching us play dude, he’s going to be watching him-” he stuck his hand out to point towards Achilles, unaware that Achilles was actually standing right behind him. They made contact, Diomedes hitting Achilles shoulder, and Diomedes grunted in surprise. “Jesus, man, gave me a heart attack. Whatever my point still stands.”

“Which is?”

Chiron, from beside the running track, yelled for Achilles to go over to him. Achilles nodded at him, quickly turning back to Patroclus. “I’ll come get you when I’m done,” he said and then he was running off. He was, to no one’s surprise, fast. Patroclus couldn't wait to see him actually running around the track. Menelaus called back a loud ‘goodbye to you too’ which got him the middle finger in return. 

“Where are you going?” Diomedes asked, “afterwards?”

“I don’t know,” Patroclus replied. 

“Oh come on,” Diomedes muttered, the football coach calling for them to go to training. “See you tomorrow, Patroclus,” they all waved at him and Odysseus, heading to the football field, pushing each other as they went. 

Patroclus pulled out his own homework, getting started on some bio homework. He figured he’d have a better time with Achilles if he wasn’t super stressed, which he would be if he didn’t get at least something done. Luckily, bio wasn’t hard, so he was finishing up the extra homework he had and was starting on the homework everyone got. He’d gotten about halfway through that when Odysseus started speaking. “Achilles is going to be annoyed at you.”

Head snapping up from his paperwork, Patroclus frowned, “what?” 

“He keeps looking over to see if you’re watching him. You never are.”

“I want to finish this,” Patroclus said, looking out to where Achilles running. Even from far away he looked good. His shirt had come off at some point, skin glistening in the sun. “Oh.”

Odysseus snorted, “he’s gonna be happy that was your reaction though.”

“What?” Patroclus asked, only half paying attention, the other half solely focused on the boy running. 

“You’re drooling.”

“Am not.”

“You could be,” Odysseus muttered. “The both of you are disgusting.”

Achilles stopped, taking a drink, and Patroclus turned his attention back to Odysseus. “What do you mean?” 

“All day he’s been messaging the group chat,” Odysseus explained, Patroclus felt embarrassment flaring up. But also, a sense of warmth, flowing through his chest as he thought of Achilles thinking of him. “Patroclus this, Patroclus that, Patroclus Patroclus Patroclus. It’s gross but I can’t say anything because Penny thinks it’s sweet. She’d get annoyed at me for saying anything.”

“Are you serious?”

“About Penelope or Achilles?” Pause. “Oh, nevermind. Yeah, here-” he pulled out his phone and opened a messaging up “-the last message he sent us was just ‘he’s cute. I think I’m in love’. Diomedes’ response is much better,” he turned to phone around - and the text from Achilles was definitely there - but also a response of five throwing up emojis. “He’s definitely sweet on you. Which is weird to see, he’s never liked anyone before.” 

“Penelope said the same thing.” 

Odysseus nodded, “people think it’s weird that he’s like that. But, no one likes him, they like the idea of him.”

“That’s what Penelope said.”

“She’s smart, Plus, popular people don't just sleep around. I mean, Agamemnon is terrible and has definitely cheated many times and both Ajaxs and Diomedes are sluts. But the rest of us aren’t.” 

“Sluts?”

“Yeah,” he scrolled up and stopped two messages, one from ‘Slut 1’ and another from ‘Slut 2’. “Self-named and we have no idea which is which.” Patroclus couldn’t help but laugh at that. Odysseus showing his own little grin. “Oh, wait, give me your number-” Patroclus did and Odysseus added him to the group chat. “Achilles is going to be pissed that it wasn’t him that did that.” 

From across the field, Ajax cheered Patroclus’ name, loud enough for everyone outside to hear him. Patroclus looked down at his lap, ignoring Odysseus laughing beside him. “You guys are nothing like the popular kids at my old school,” Patroclus muttered as Menelaus sent a dozen love heart emojis to the group chat, tagging Patroclus as he went. Achilles was now standing on the track, having stopped running, as was flicking his gaze between Patroclus and Odysseus and every one of the football field.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re nice?”

“And they weren’t?”

“No. Not at all. I had to go to all these dinners with them, my dad was business partners with their families, and they were all snooty brats who didn’t talk to me because I wasn’t cool. The opposite of you. Right?” 

Odysseus shrugged, “I guess. We don’t hate anyone, aside from Paris and shit, but like we wouldn’t hate on someone not popular. That’s just dumb.”

“I can tell.”

“Good. It means we’re better than Paris,” Odysseus said, looking so smug Patroclus had to laugh again. “I hope you enjoy this school, Patroclus. Clearly, you’re coming into our group-” he grinned. “-I don’t think Achilles would let us say no.”

~~

Achilles was making his way towards to Patroclus, pouting that Patroclus hadn’t realised because he wouldn’t look up from his books. Odysseus had looked up and was looking rather pleased with himself. Achilles was already changed, having raced into the lockers after his hour, to get what he needed. He needed to be back and ready before the footballers had finished, and luckily, it was looking that way. 

Penelope and Helen were also making their way towards Patroclus and Odysseus, just beating him. Patroclus, finally, looked up when they were standing there. However, he did look at Achilles almost instantly, smiling when he saw him coming. Helen was practically cooing at the two of them, Achilles happily ignoring her. “Ready to go?” He asked as Patroclus packed up his homework, nodding. “Awesome,” he waited for Patroclus to be finished, taking both their bags. “Nope, we’re doing this right,” he said when Patroclus went to complain (again) about Achilles taking his stuff. 

Helen damn near fainted. 

“See you tomorrow,” Patroclus called as Achilles led him towards the car park. Hand in hand, as they should be. “How was - running?”

“It was good,” Achilles said, grin widening at Patroclus’ choice of words. “The usual. I have a meet in a few weeks, college scouts are coming out to see me. Chiron said that it could determine my future.”

“Really? That’s amazing.”

Achilles shrugged half-heartedly. “Yeah. I guess.”

“What do you want to do?” Patroclus asked. 

“Chiron thinks I could be looking to a full ride, and my dad thinks I should go into business like him. Take over the company or something. My mom wants me to go to the Olympics though. So I’ll probably major in business and keep running. Something like that.”

Patroclus shook his head, “what do you want to? Not what you’ve been told to do.”

“I - I don’t know. Never thought about it?” 

“You’ve never thought about what you wanted to?” 

“My parents, mom especially, have always just told me what I’m doing.”

“It’s not the same, but my dad’s like that. Sort of. But you don’t have to listen to them. You know that, right?” Patroclus asked as they stopped in front of a car. It was nice, newer than a lot of the other cars in the lot. Cleaner too. And it was black. That was about as far as Patroclus could get with describing it. Achille shrugged, unlocking the car and throwing their bags in the back seat. “I’m serious,” Patroclus said when they were sitting down.

Achilles started the car, “I honestly don’t know. But, uh, maybe I will think about it. Now, no more talk of the future. Let’s talk date-” Patroclus blanched and Achilles ignored it “- are you hungry?” 

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Cool. Phoenix’s is the best place in town. My dad’s good friend with Phoenix so we get a discount.” 

Just as they left the lot everyone else came out. Menelaus and Odysseus both had arms around their respective girlfriends and Diomedes was flipping off the car. “Your friends are, uh, interesting,” Patroclus muttered. 

“Hmm, they’re certainly something. But they’re pretty cool, aside from Agamemnon, don’t like him one bit.” 

“Really? Sorry, I’m being nosy.”’

“Don’t worry about it, you can ask me anything. And I don’t like him because he’s a dick. He thinks he’s better than everyone and shit. No one really gets along with him. Oh, have you been into town yet? How long have you been here?”

Patroclus shook his head, “no. We got here on Friday and I’ve been unpacking the entire time.”

“I can totally give you a tour,” Achilles said. “Okay, there-” he pointed out his window “-is the road that leads to the local pool. Love that place. And down there-” his arm brushed against Patroclus’ chest as he pointed out his window “-is the way to the beach,” he took that turn, the ocean coming into view rather quickly. “And Phoenix’s is right here,” he said, smiling as he pulled into a spare car park. “Ready?” 

“Absolutely.”


	5. Chapter 5

“I can’t believe it. No. No way.”

“It’s true!” 

“Prove it.”

“Gladly,” Achilles said, squaring his shoulders. He took three of the figs from the plate in front of Patroclus and began juggling them, looking completely at ease as he did. Even going as far as winking at Patroclus. “Here, catch,” he threw one of the figs, Patroclus catching it without even thinking about it.

“Show off,” Patroclus muttered good naturally. 

Achilles grinned again, his entire face lighting up as he did. He ate one of the other figs and passed the last one to Patroclus. “I want to know more about you,” he said as Patroclus ate the fig. “Tell me everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“I think you need to be more specific,” Patroclus said. The waitress came over, placing two plates with sandwiches on them in front of them. “And sorry to disappoint, but I’m not very interesting.” 

The look Achilles sent him was pure annoyance, “don’t be ridiculous. You’re - you’re you and that can’t be anything but amazing. And I want to know everything.”

Warmth flooded through Patroclus, he felt like the sun had just risen inside of him. Like he was blessed by both Apollo and Aphrodite in the same breath. Like he had every missing piece of his soul filled almost instantly. Patroclus smiled and the light in Achilles’ eyes intensified even more. If Patroclus was warm it was because Achilles was the sun. Shining upon him with a look of unbridled love and affection. Achilles' hand was on the table and Patroclus, in a fit of confidence, reached out to grab it. Their fingers curled around one another. 

“Is it strange,” Achilles said in a whispered breath, “that I feel like I already know you?”

“No. I don’t think it is.”

“Good. Because I don’t ever want to stop feeling this.”

Patroclus tightened his grip. As if to convey his own aversion to losing the boy sitting in front of him. Achilles understood. 

“Now, tell me.”

“I was born in Opus, my mother died when I was young so I live with my dad. I don’t have many stories, I spent most of my time reading by myself. We moved out here because someone - because my dad wanted to. I really don’t have that much to tell.”

Achilles started playing with Patroclus’ fingers. “I know you’re lying about why you moved out but I won’t push. And I don’t care about interesting. I care about you.”

“I’m not lying,” Patroclus muttered, lying. Achilles didn’t comment. “I, I’ve wanted to be a doctor for a long time. Ever since I was young.”

“Really? What made you decide that?” 

“I hurt my knee,” Patroclus said with a little smile and small shrug, “like a kid. And I remember putting on the plaster and thinking that I could do this for others. That I could help hurt people.”

“That’s really honourable.”

“Now you’ve got to tell me something about you.”

Taking a bite of his sandwich Achilles shrugged, “I play the guitar. Have done since I was young.”

“That’s awesome.”

“My mom, she thought it would be good that I was ‘well rounded’. Which meant doing all sorts of stuff I hated at first but grew to love.”

“Like what?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I’m a really good sword fighter.” 

Patroclus sighed, mock shaking his head. “Are you bad at anything?”

“Yup!” He pulled his hand out from Patroclus’ and created two sets of finger guns, pointing them at Patroclus. “Being straight.”

“Oh my god,” Patroclus said, wheezing out a laugh. “Oh my god. I can’t believe you just did that.” 

“Did you like it?”

“Probably too much.”

“No such thing.”

The waitress came back, putting a milkshake with two straws down. Achilles and Patroclus looked up in confusion before they could say anything she shrugged. “It’s from them,” she said and pointed to a booth at the other end of the cafe. All their friends were shoved into a booth, girlfriends sitting on boyfriends. When they looked, everyone waved. Patroclus lifted his hand in greeting, Achilles rolled his eyes. 

“Jokes on them,” Achilles said, taking a sip. “Now we have a milkshake and I’m not paying for it.”

“Now kiss!” Diomedes yelled, getting the attention of everyone in the cafe. Mainly other students, who were now all staring at Achilles and Patroclus with rapid attention. Patroclus looked down at the table, not appreciating all the stares. 

“Wanna go?” Achilles asked, “we could go for a walk along the beach?”

“Sounds romantic.”

“Good, that’s where I was going,” Achilles said. He pulled out his wallet, leaving enough money to pay for both sandwiches. Patroclus was going to speak up, to say he could pay - and he could, it just meant he’d be tight on money for the next few days - when Achilles waved his hand. “It’s a date, Patroclus, I’m paying.” 

Patroclus looked from the money to Achilles. He had never seen someone look so serious about paying for someone else's food. “Alright,” he relented purely because he knew he wouldn’t win against Achilles. The two of them got up, Achilles picking up the only slightly drunk milkshake and making his way to his friend, Patroclus following close at his heel. They all were already looking when they arrived. 

Helen was the first to speak, cooing sweetly as Achilles placed the slightly drunken milkshake down on the table. “You two are the cutest. Literally, it’s adorable.” 

“Thanks,” Achilles said, “and thanks for the milkshake. But we’re gonna go because we don’t want to see you. So you can have it back.”

“Rude,” Diomedes said, taking it for himself. 

“Why can’t we have a relationship like that?” Helen asked, “they’ve known each other for a few hours and they’re already cuter than us.”

“Dude, you need to stop,” Menelaus snapped at Achilles. Patroclus felt a surge of anger rise inside of him. “You’re making me look like a bad boyfriend.”

Achilles wrapped his arm around Patroclus’ shoulders, pulling him into his side. “Not my fault you’re a bad boyfriend and that you can’t compete with me. Carefully, Helen might run off with Paris.”

“Eww,” Helen made a face. “Why bring me and Paris into this?” 

“He’s such a dick,” Penelope muttered. 

“Yes, he is. And as much as I would love to talk about how shitty he is, I have a date to get back to. So, see you all tomorrow. Follow us and I’ll fight you. Bye!” Achilles waved and then turned, guiding Patroclus and himself out of the cafe. Patroclus had to hide his laughter as they walked out of the cafe. 

The two of them left Achilles’ car in the car park, choosing to walk the small distance to the beach. Hands clutched together and swinging between them as they walked. The beach here was much, much, nicer than at Opus. Opus’ beach was rocky and nearly unswimmable, whereas the beach they were heading to was white sand with a calm current, small waves lapping at the shore. When they got to the path heading to the sand Achilles kicked off his shoes, Patroclus following suit, and hid them in a hole in a rock. 

At Patroclus’ amused expression, Achilles shrugged. “I come here, like, all the time. I have a few spots for shoes and phones if I want to go swimming.” Once their shoes were safely stored the two of them got to the sand. The first thing Patroclus noticed was how warm it was under foot. The second thing he noticed was the fact he and Achilles were the only ones out that afternoon. Which was strange, seeing as the weather was perfect for the beach. It was hot out, but the sun was partially hidden behind the clouds so they weren’t burning. But, Patroclus couldn’t find himself complaining about the two of them being alone out there that afternoon. 

“Your dad isn’t going to be annoyed that you’re out so late?” Achilles asked as they walked.

“No. I promise he won’t care.”

“Alright, so I can keep you for longer?” Achilles smiled. Patroclus laughed, nodding. He tried not to look too eager but figured he’d failed rather badly at it. “Don’t look so happy, I might just end up keeping you forever.”

Patroclus couldn’t think of anything wrong with that. 

“Camping’s going to be fun,” Achilles said after they had walked down the shore for some time in silence. “We go at the beginning of every semester. Our little tradition I guess.” 

“That’s really sweet.” 

“It’s a lovely campsite. They let us make a bonfire on the beach. Which is awesome.” 

“Sounds it.”

Achilles nodded, “the tent I have is little. Just so you know. We’ll be, like, close.”

“Oh no,” Patroclus deadpanned, causing Achilles to laugh. “However will we cope?” 

“No idea,” Achilles looked from Patroclus to the water. They came to a stop there, Achilles sitting down on the sand and pulling Patroclus down with him. They hadn’t gotten particularly far but they were happy there. Patroclus ended up sitting just in front of Achilles, which meant he could lean back and rest his head on Achilles’ shoulder. Achilles had his arms wrapped around Patroclus, the both of them facing out to the sea. 

The waves came and went, filling the silence with a tranquil background. Patroclus started tracing patterns into the sand with his fingers, wiping them away when he was done and starting again. Over and over again. Just like the waves. Achilles watched him, a smile on his face and happiness in his heart. Patroclus was loath to break the peace but he had to say what was on his mind, so he did, speaking quietly as to not disturb the environment too badly. “I could die here happy.”

“If you died here I wouldn’t be happy,” Achilles replied instantly. “I don’t know how I would react but I wouldn’t be happy.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

“Almost feels like we’ve been here before.”

Achilles shook his head. “I would remember.” 

“Oh?”

“I wouldn’t forget someone like you. Even if it was ordained by the gods.” 

Patroclus traded tracing the sand to tracing Achilles' leg. “We’ve known each other for a few hours and here we are.”

Achilles shook his head again, “we haven’t known each other for a few hours. Do you believe in soulmates?”

“I didn’t. I thought it was a shitty concept.” 

“You thought true love was a shitty concept?”

“Love isn’t something that I’ve had throughout my life.”

“Well then, I promise you that I’ll give you all the love you deserve,” Achilles said, sounding surer of himself than ever before. Setting sunlight reflected across the ocean, causing the entire world to light up in oranges and reds. Patroclus drew a love heart on Achilles’ leg, drawing a small and heartfelt smile from Achilles. Achilles drew a heart back on Patroclus’s arm. “You deserve more love then I can give.”

The sun started slipping behind the horizon, slowly but surely. “I’m terrified I’m about to wake up in Opus.”

“Don’t be. You’re here with me.”

“It seems too good to be true.”

“It does,” Achilles agreed. “But it’s still real. No dream emotions could come close to what I’m feeling right now.” 

“You’re so sure of yourself.”

Achilles shrugged, “I know what I’m feeling.”

“I don’t,” Patroclus replied with a small laugh. “But I like it anyway.”

“I woke up this morning thinking that today was going to be any old Monday. And it was, right until Odysseus messaged the group chat. Saying there was a cute boy taking the locker next to mine-”

“That’s what he said!?” 

“Yes. And then you walked into that damn room. It felt like everything and everyone had disappeared as soon I saw you. They didn’t matter anymore.”

Patroclus smiled, “that’s really sweet and I want to know more but what did Odysseus actually say?” 

“Uh, that there was a new kid at school, he was cute, he was using the locker next to me and he thought I would be your type. That was it.”

“That means Odysseus finds me cute.” 

“Everyone does.”

“What?!” Achilles pulled his phone from his pocket, dusted some sand off the screen, opened his messaging app and the group chat Patroclus was now in and started scrolling back to before Patroclus had been added. Patroclus saw the slight scowl Achilles had when he got to the notification that said Odysseus had added him. “Odysseus said you’d be pissed that he added me before you did.” 

Achilles rolled his eyes, “Odysseus is a know it all.”

“But he’s right?” 

“Obviously,” Achilles muttered. He scrolled a bit more, stopping and showing the screen to Patroclus. “Here you go.” The first text on the screen was from ‘Slut 1’ and it just said that he hated his math teacher. Then a text from ‘brodysseus’ that read ‘Achilles there’s a new kid at school that (i think) is your type and has the locker next to you’. Then Achilles (aKilles was his name) replied with a series of question marks which Diomedes (die-omedes) replied to, saying ‘oh yeah, I saw the cute boy. He’s cute.’

“I don’t know what to say.”

“The entire school is already in love,” Achilles said as if it was fact. Patroclus wasn’t sure that it was. “You’re just extremely loveable.”


	6. Chapter 6

“I should probably go home,” Patroclus said softly as the sun disappeared behind the water. 

Achilles sighed but nodded, standing up and then turning to help Patroclus up as well. “I don’t want to take you home.”

“If it makes you feel better, I don’t want to go either.”

“Good. But you’re stressing about homework, right?” Achilles asked knowingly and Patroclus nodded. They started walking back along the beach. “I’ll drive you home, and don’t worry about our English paper, I’ll start on it and we can work on it more tomorrow.”

“I kind of forgot about that one.”

“Well, don’t worry about it,” Achilles replied. “And I’ll even put lots of effort into it so you get a good grade so Nestor likes you.”

Patroclus chuckled once, “shouldn’t you do a good job so you get a good mark?”

“I’m happy with my B average, I have a feeling if you get an A- you’re upset.”

“You got me there,” Patroclus muttered causing Achilles to laugh. “Med school is hard to get into.”

“No, it makes sense. I just need a C average and I can run, and I’m doing better than that.”

“Well done.” 

They got to the entrance to the beach, Achilles reaching to get both pairs of shoes. He handed Patroclus’ to him, neither of them bothering to actually put them on though. Instead, they just walked back to the car. Hand in hand. Because of course, they were, Patroclus didn’t even want to think about not holding Achilles’ hand as they walked. Achilles swang their joint hands slightly, smiling down at them as they went. 

When they got to Achilles’ car Patroclus sucked in a breath and Achilles laughed, shaking his head. Attached to the back of his car was a sign that proclaimed ‘first date!’ with streamers coming off it. A note attached to the sign simply read ‘enjoy ~ your (awesome) friends’. A smile came on Patroclus’ face as he looked at the car again. It was so dumb but at the time was something that he could get behind it. Patroclus half assumed that Achilles would take it off, but instead, Achilles just lead Patroclus to the passenger door, opening it for him and closing it when Patroclus was sitting down. 

After Achilles had sat down and had started the car, Patroclus asked: “are you not upset?”

“About the sign?” Achilles asked, turning to look out the back of the car to reverse out of the car park. Patroclus nodded. “No. If it damages my car they can pay, though.”

“You don’t mind that anyone who sees you is going to see me in the car?”

“I don’t know if you mean me being out or if you’re just putting yourself down,” Achilles answered and Patroclus looked out his window. “Probably both, right? But no, I don’t care. At all. I don’t care who knows I’m gay and you’re awesome.”

Patroclus looked back at Achilles, “you’re sure?”

“Of course. Now, where do you live?” Patroclus rattled off his address which wasn’t very far from the beach, Achilles nodding along as he went. “Cool, you’re on the same street as Diomedes. Which is great, ‘cause all the best parties are at his.” 

“I’ve never been to a party,” Patroclus disclosed. 

“Why not?” Achilles asked, looking dumbfounded.

“I wasn’t exactly popular at my old school.”

Achilles scoffed, “then they were all idiots. We’re not having a party this weekend but I’m sure there will be one the weekend after. You can come with me.” 

“Looking forward to it,” Patroclus replied. All his references for parties were TV shows and movies, and he really didn’t want to get involved with that. Achilles rolled his eyes, a soft chuckle leaving his lips when Patroclus spoke. Clearly, he saw right through Patroclus’ hesitation. “No, it’s really fine. I like you and your friends so I’m sure a party with you guys will be fine.” 

“You can call them your friends.”

“Oh.”

“I think they like you more than me,” Achilles replied. Patroclus was about to reply, in disagreement, when a car pulled up beside them, honked once, and everyone in that car waved and smiled at them. Achilles waved back, his own smile on his face, while Patroclus buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. “I guess they read the sign,” Achilles said once the other car had driven off. 

Patroclus groaned, causing Achilles to laugh. The car turned onto another street, now lined with houses and one that Patroclus actually recognized. Which meant they were getting closer to Patroclus’ house. Which wasn’t great, seeing as Patroclus didn’t want to get out of the car. Achilles gave off such a warm and sweet vibe that Patroclus was already loath to part with. It was so easy with him. When Patroclus was with Achilles it felt like something he had down a hundred times before. Easy. Achilles turned onto the street next to Patroclus’ and, maybe it was just his imagination, but Patroclus couldn’t help but think Achilles was suddenly driving a lot slower. 

Achilles pulled to a stop outside Patroclus’ new house. It was modest in appearance, nice enough to be on the fancy end but still not in the rich area of town. The garage door was open, showing the boxes that were stacked there. His father’s car was nowhere to be seen, and for that, Patroclus was very thankful. He sat in the car for a moment longer than he should have done. Then he sighed softly and opened the door, grabbing his bag full of homework for the night. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asked.

Nodding Achilles replied, “I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

“See you then. And, uh, thanks for this afternoon.”

“My pleasure,” Achilles said sincerely. He lent over and pressed a soft kiss to Patroclus’ forehead. The action was just so sweet that Patroclus felt faint. Achilles had a faint blush across the bridge of his nose and Patroclus didn’t think he was faring any better. “Night, Patroclus, sleep tight.”

“You too,” Patroclus smiled as he got out of the car. “See you tomorrow.”

~~

When Patroclus woke up he was greeted to a home screen full of messages. And for Patroclus? This was a strange thing. He rarely got text messages, and especially not at night. Most of them were from the group chat, where Patroclus had been renamed to ‘the cutest’ by Helen. He scrolled through what he had missed, mostly just complaining about homework and that the training schedules had been changed. Diomedes had also messaged him privately, congratulating Patroclus on moving to the same street as him. He sent back a little house emoji, really unsure how else to respond. 

The messages he actually wanted to read? Achilles. One hundred per cent Achilles. There was a little 5 in red beside Achilles’ name when Patroclus clicked on it. Patroclus had no idea what to expect when he opened up their private chat. ‘Morning babe xx’ ‘oh shit you’re probably asleep, sorry if you are’ ‘hope I didn’t wake you up xx’ ‘but, still, morning baby <3’ ‘can’t wait for another day with you’. 

Patroclus didn’t know how to reply to that. 

At the bottom corner of the screen, the little bubble popped up, meaning that Achilles was currently typing. ‘I saw you’re awake now so Good Morning Babe!’ Achilles text and Patroclus smiled at his phone. ‘Morning Achilles x’ he sent back, and then ‘why were you awake so early?’ Patroclus’ head snapped up when he heard his father’s door opening and closing. Luckily he was moving away from Patroclus’ room. When Patroclus looked back at his phone, Achilles had already replied. ‘Running. Hurry up and get ready, I’m taking you out for coffee before school. I’ll be at your house in 30 :)’.

Doing as he was told, Patroclus got up and got ready. Showering and dressing, suddenly very self-conscious of what he was wearing. Usually, he didn’t even think about it, but he was suddenly very aware that he wanted Achilles to think he looked good. So he spent a bit longer choosing his outfit for the day, which ended up being a simple white top and his dark wash jeans. And if he spent a bit more time doing his hair? It wasn’t intentional or anything like that. 

His phone beeped again, another message from Achilles. Proclaiming that he was already outside and waiting for him to come down. Patroclus quickly stuffed all his school work into his bag, a whole lot of homework that he had spent hours working on and that he wasn't about to forget. Achilles sent another message, an emoji love heart, that Patroclus smiled at and sent a message saying he was coming down. With a purple love heart attached to it as well. 

Menoetius was standing in the kitchen when Patroclus went downstairs. He was making something, staring down at the bench. Patroclus didn’t speak, years of this had taught him what to do and staying as silent as possible was always the best option. He didn’t turn to look at his son but did speak. “You got in late last night, I get a message when the alarm goes off and on.” 

“I was out with friends,” Patroclus replied quietly. Fiddling with his bag straps and looking anywhere but his father’s back. His mind on Achilles waiting for him outside.

“Friends?” Menoetius scoffed. “I have a potential business associate coming over for dinner tonight. Don’t be in the house before nine. Understand?” Patroclus replied that he understood, getting out of the house as quickly as he could. Achilles was, as promised, standing beside his car outside of Patroclus’ house. His smile growing into a large grin when he saw Patroclus. 

All Patroclus wanted to do was fall in Achilles’ arms for a hug. They hadn’t hugged yet, but Patroclus could imagine what it would be like. Warm and comforting for sure. But, for all he knew his father was watching out the window so he simply climbed into the car after Achilles opened the door. Ducking away from the kiss Achilles was going to plant on his cheek was probably the hardest thing to do. 

Achilles gave him a strange look when he got into the car and Patroclus looked away, guilt heavy on his chest. “My dad wouldn’t be happy with, uh, seeing us kissing.” 

“Oh,” Achilles replied softly. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Patroclus’ reply didn’t seem to help Achilles though. He still looked pretty upset with the revelation that Patroclus’ dad wasn’t the best guy. Patroclus placed his hand on Achilles’ thigh and smiled at him, this did make Achilles happy, and he placed his own hand over Patroclus’s. They stayed like that, holding hands and resting them on Achilles’ lap until they arrived at a drive-through coffee cafe. It wasn’t a long drive and they were happy listening to the music quietly. Achilles ordered them both coffee, Patroclus blushing when he pressed a kiss to their joint hands and the waitress practically cooed. And he did try to fight Achilles to let Patroclus pay but Achilles as adamant that he was paying - again. 

They were sitting in the car in the school parking lot, drinking their coffees and still hand in hand when they spoke again, “why are you against me paying?” Achilles asked softly. 

“I can pay for myself,” Patroclus muttered. 

“Yeah, but I can pay for you as well,” Achilles replied and Patroclus shrugged. “I like paying for you if that makes it better.” 

Patroclus was going to say that he would still pay when the back doors of Achilles’ car were opened. Achilles didn’t even look back but he still sighed deeply. Diomedes, Menelaus and Odysseus piled into the back. Looking like a sight, seeing as all of them were big guys and the back of Achilles’ car wasn’t huge. All of them had their own coffees in the hands and all of them looked half dead. 

Diomedes looked the most put out, however, “this is bull shit. All year I’ve asked you for a lift to school and you always said my street was ‘to far away’ and yet,” he gestured half-heartedly to Patroclus, “cute boy gets a lift?” 

“You answered your own question, he’s cute.”

“Not fair,” Diomedes muttered.

“Become cuter,” Odysseus replied. 

“I’m plenty cute,” Diomedes scoffed. “And plenty of people know that, just so you all know. If I wasn’t in the middle I’d get out of the car right now.” 

Everyone in the car burst out laughing, even Diomedes cracked up at the situation. Outside of the car, more and more students started arriving so the group got out of the car and started making their way to the school building. Achilles and Patroclus were holding hands, standing as close as they could be and Patroclus was well aware of nearly everyone staring at them as they went. He was also aware of how many people said hi, and how many times they (Diomedes, Menelaus and Odysseus mainly) said hi back. They clearly weren’t just popular because they were rich like it had been at Opus, the people at this school actually knew - and more importantly - liked them. 

The greeting didn’t stop when they were inside, it felt like even more people were calling out for them. Menelaus and Diomedes were pulled away from them almost as soon as they walked in, Achilles explaining that it was the rest of the football team. Penelope appeared in front of them a moment after that, said hello and pulled Odysseus away. Achilles and Patroclus pulled to a stop outside of their lockers and put away their stuff. Just as Patroclus was closing his a student he didn’t know came up to them, she was very pretty and was surrounded by other girls. 

She smiled at Achilles, “hi, Achilles, how are you? Long time no see.”

Achilles looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable. “Hey, Deidamea. I’m good, you?”

“Pretty good, same old really. We should do something one day, it’s been ages.”

“Uh, maybe. I’m pretty busy. Oh, Deidamea, this is Patroclus,” Achilles said. He pulled Patroclus closer by the waist, moving him to be beside Achilles and staring straight at the - now - pissed off girl. “He just arrived yesterday, have you meet yet?”

Deidamea shook her head, a grin laced with poison on her face. “Haven’t had the pleasure.”

“Well, now you have,” Achilles said with a forced smile. He quickly grabbed both his and Patroclus’ bags. “We should get to class, see you around.” He pulled Patroclus away from the girls, heading away from their next class in his haste. “She - uh - everyone says she likes me. I don’t - her dad is friends with my mom and I’m pretty sure she wants me to be with her but, uh, don’t mind her. She’s nice enough.” 

“It’s fine,” Patroclus muttered, following Achilles as he backtracked through the school to get to English. “Not your fault.”

“She can be a lot.”

Patroclus shrugged as they arrived at their classroom. Achilles pushed open the door just as the bell went, letting Patroclus in first and following him to the back of the class were Menelaus and Agamemnon were already sitting. Both of them nodded in greeting but couldn’t say anything as Nestor was already glaring at the four of them. Achilles pulled out both his and Patroclus’ chairs and then pushed Patroclus in when he sat down. Menelaus looking at them with raised eyebrows, Patroclus looked down and felt himself heating up where Achilles shrugged.

Menelaus coughed muttering “you’re insufferable”

Achilles laughed quietly. “Get used to it.”


	7. Chapter 7

Lunch rolled around soon after. Patroclus made his own way to the cafeteria. He had been texting Achilles all day, every moment he could, and had promised that he could get to the cafeteria by himself. As much as it was sweet that Achilles wanted to help him but he could survive high school by himself. Classics had been great, Chiron was an amazing teacher and Patroclus could see why Achilles spoke so highly of him. 

Everyone, bar Achilles, were sitting at the same table as they had been yesterday. Diomedes waved when he saw Patroclus, who waved back before jumping when an arm was slung around his shoulders. His hand went to heart in shock as Achilles laughed. “You okay?” He asked as they headed to the food line.

“You gave me a fright.”

“I can tell. How was Classics? You stopped texting me.”

“Chiron told me to put my phone away.”

“Traitor,” Achilles muttered as they got to the line. 

Someone came up to Achilles and started talking about a track meet coming up, Patroclus tuning them out. Happy to stand beside Achilles and watch everyone in the cafeteria. At their table, Diomedes was arm wrestling Odysseus and everyone was cheering and betting on their favourite. Hector, on the other side of the room, was glaring at Paris who was staring at Helen who was wrapped under Menelaus’ arm. Briseis was sitting at another table with a whole lot of girls, all chatting happily, she waved at Patroclus when she saw him staring, he waved back. All the girls at the table looking at him and Achilles, giggling softly behind their hands. Patroclus couldn’t even find it in him to be embarrassed. Another table of all girls were staring at him as well, although they weren’t giggling. Deidamea looked down right pissed as she watched Achilles move so he was even closer to Patroclus. 

The other student left after they had finished, disappearing into a crowd of other jocks who were pushing each other and laughing in the middle of the room. “Sorry, it was important.”

“Don’t be. What was it about?”

“They want to up training for the runners this week. Because of the meet.” 

“The important one?”

Achilles nodded. “Yeah but I don’t see why I need to. I’m going to win if I train for five or ten hours. I’ll talk to Chiron today.” 

“Wouldn’t training make you better?”

 

“Yeah,” Achilles said with a pout. “But I don’t want to. Any other week I wouldn’t have cared but I want some time off right now.”

“Why?”

“Because there is someone I want to spend time with right now,” Achilles muttered, pressing a kiss to Patroclus’ temple. “And training cuts into that time.”

Patroclus beamed at Achilles. “You should train. I’ll come watch you if you want.”

“Of course I want that,” Achilles replied. 

“You two are the worst,” Menelaus said as he slid into line beside them. “I hate it.”

“Go to the back of the line then,” Achilles shrugged. 

Menelaus looked offended at the suggestion. “My best friend, betraying me.”

“I’m not your best friend.”

“Whatever. Helen wants a chocolate pudding and she’s upset so I’m not about to say no to her and I’m not waiting even longer because I’m at the back of the line. She’s probably already pissed I’ve taken so long.” Menelaus looked over at their table, sadness clear in his eyes. Achilles and Patroclus both looked to see Penelope rubbing Helen’s back. “All she wants is to be left alone and Paris keeps on texting her on all these phones.”

Achilles frowned, “he takes other people’s phones?” 

“Yeah. His friends I think.”

“That’s sick,” Patroclus muttered.

Menelaus nodded and then they were at the front of the line. Patroclus ordered for himself before Achilles could, who looked put out at what had happened but let it go. Once they all had what they wanted they made their way back to the table. Diomedes moved over but it ended up that Patroclus was practically in Achilles’ lap. Neither of them minded. Helen started eating her pudding as her phone lit up, another unknown number. Menelaus deleted it before she could even see it. 

Helen sat up straighter, pasting a smile on her face. “Patroclus, how’s your day been?”

“It’s been good. Not much has happened.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Helen muttered before the conversation split off again. People talking amongst themselves. 

“What are you doing tonight?” Achilles asked, turning so he was staring at Patroclus as they ate. 

Patroclus shrugged. His dad had told him not to come home before 9, but it wasn’t like he wanted to tell Achilles that. Their relationship had just started and was becoming something that Patroclus was really, really, into. He wasn’t going to jeopardise it by explaining how much his dad hated him. He wasn’t about to point out all his faults for Achilles to see. He was sure that Achilles would see them soon enough. 

“Do you want to come over to mine after practice? My dad will be home if you’re worried about that.”

“That sounds good,” Patroclus replied. “Really good.” Achilles smiled at him, nodding. He looked like a kid in a candy store, his smile was so bright - and so full of genuine happiness that Patroclus felt taken aback. He couldn’t think of a time where he was only happy. Where negative thoughts weren’t also swirling around as he smiled. Achilles didn’t seem to have this problem. 

“What time do you have to be home?”

“Uh, after nine?”

Achilles nodded once - paused - and looked over at Patroclus. “After?”

“My dad has work associate coming over.” 

“Cool. You can have dinner with me and dad then.” 

“Are you sure?” Patroclus asked. Going to his house was one thing but having dinner with his father? That was something else altogether. Patroclus didn’t know if it was something he wanted to do. Achilles nodded and was quick to assure him that A) His dad wouldn’t mind at all and B) Achilles wanted him to come over. After a few moments of persuasion, Patroclus nodded, agreeing to the dinner date.

He was glad he did for it seemed like Achilles had captured the sun in his smile.

~~

“I need to know everything.”

“Don’t we all.”

“Patroclus! Don’t sass me, I’m annoyed at you right now. I had to learn through gossip and the grapevine that my new best friend has a boyfriend! That’s a no-no. You text me,” Briseis reprimanded. “Do you understand?” 

“There’s a lot in that sentence I don’t understand,” Patroclus replied slowly, his mind going over everything Briseis had just said. Their Chemistry stood from his desk and wrote a page number on the board. He tapped it with his pen and told them to have it done by the end of the lesson or they’d have to stay behind. Briseis and Patroclus both got out their books and started working. Patroclus spoke after a few minutes of answering questions. “I don’t have a boyfriend, I’ve never had a best friend and who’s gossiping about me?” 

Briseis looked at him pointedly. “Achilles obviously, that’s sad, and literally everyone.” 

“Achilles isn’t my boyfriend.”

“Baby.”

“He isn’t!” Patroclus argued back. On the table lay Patroclus’ phone, which vibrated and lit up, showing a new message from Achilles. Who had changed his name on Patroclus’ phone during English to have a yellow heart beside his name. Briseis looked at the phone, looked up, scowled at Patroclus and shook her head, sighing as she went. Patroclus shrugged and refused to look at his phone, “doesn’t mean anything.” 

Before Patroclus could react, Briseis picked up the phone. “I can play my guitar for you if you want,” she read. “That’s what he just messaged you and you’re trying to tell me that you two aren’t made for each other. That’s the most romantic thing he can do. Do you know how love works?” 

“It’s not the most romantic thing.”

“So you don’t.”

“I’ve never dealt with this before,” Patroclus hissed. Briseis didn’t look fazed, pulling out her own phone. “I don’t even know what I’m feeling.”

Finishing her text, she looked up at him with a look Patroclus could only describe as motherly. “Alright. Let’s go through this. Achilles clearly likes you, like, really likes you. And you obviously like him back. Two, it’s really sad that you’ve never had a best friend because you deserve one. It’s me now. Okay? Which means you tell me everything and I tell you everything. Cool?”

“Okay,” Patroclus said, trying to hide his smile. He really liked Briseis. She was no bullshit but still so fun. Having her as a best friend didn’t seem like a bad idea. “Ignoring your idea that Achilles likes me. Who was gossiping about me?” 

“Baby. He does. And everyone-” she opened her phone onto a group chat tilted ‘the bitches minus Arina’. There was a whole chain of messages discussing how Achilles and Patroclus had walked into school hand in hand and how they had sat pressed together during English and how Achilles had kissed him on the cheek when dropping him off at Maths. “-Is talking about you two. He’s popular, people gossip.” 

“Who’s Arina?”

“A backstabbing bitch that we’re friends with in public only,” Briseis replied shortly as her phone beeped. Patroclus stared at her wide-eyed when he saw the name at the top of her screen. “What? I asked him,” she said, ignoring Patroclus and his inner panic. While she opened the message from Achilles a whole bunch of messages from her group coming through. She turned her phone around and showed Achilles’ message. To which, Patroclus looked away in embarrassment. ‘Of course, I do’. 

Across the room a girl Patroclus didn’t know looked up, looked at the teacher, got up as quietly as she could and made her way to Briseis and Patroclus. “Hey babe,” Briseis whispered. The new girl smiled back and pulled a chair to their table. 

She sat down, staring at Patroclus. “I can’t believe you’re dating Achilles after two days. Like, a hundred girls have been trying to date him for years. I guess I know where we were going wrong.”

“Oh, I’m not dating Achilles.”

“He offered to play the guitar for you,” she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Patroclus looked lost. “That means he likes you.”

“Oh.”

“Tell us everything when you’re done. Bye Briseis, we have to catch up this weekend.”

Briseis nodded, “totally.” The other girl left, pushing her borrowed chair back to the table next to them. When she was out of earshot Briseis scoffed. “Bitch. And you just meet Arina. I wonder who told her.”

“What? Wait. That’s the backstabbing bitch?” Patroclus asked and Briseis nodded. “And she knows what Achilles texts me, why?”

“I told the group chat. Someone probably told someone who told her. I don’t think anyone would tell her directly. No one likes her.” 

“I’m so confused.” 

“You should answer Achilles,” Briseis muttered and handed his phone back. “And girls are weird, we’ve got strange customs.”

Patroclus took his phone, opening up his messaging app and typing that he would love to hear Achilles play. Then, after a moment of deliberation, he messaged saying that everyone was talking about them being together. ‘I know,’ Achilles replied quickly ‘does it bother you?’ 

‘It doesn’t bother you?’ Patroclus typed back. 

‘Not really. I’ve had people gossiping about me for years. I can get them to stop talking about us if you want.’

‘You don’t care that people think you’re dating me?’

‘I told you that I don’t yesterday.’ Then; ‘you didn’t believe me.’

‘Sorry.’

‘Nothing to apologize for. Do you mind that people think we’re together?’ 

‘No?’

‘I like it. Means no one is going to try and date you now.’

‘Oh.’ Patroclus stared down at his phone with wide eyes. Briseis laughing softly beside him as she read over his shoulder. ‘No one else in the school I want to date anyway.’

‘Good. ‘Cause I will fight them for you.’

‘How romantic.’

‘It’s what I’m known for.’ Then; ‘gotta go, I’ll see after class. And then; ‘baby xx.’


	8. Chapter 8

“Achilles, give me a lift to mine? I need to be home in like fifteen minutes.”

“Has Achilles ever given you a lift?”

Diomedes shrugged at Odysseus, “Patroclus lives a few doors down and I’m ninety per cent sure Achilles is going to be dropping him off.” 

“Jokes on you, Patroclus is coming over to mine,” Achilles replied. He and everyone else were walking to the carpark, heading home after practice. Diomedes groaned at them, throwing his hands up in the air. Patroclus looked from him to Achilles, who was already looking at Patroclus, it seemed he was looking at Patroclus more than he wasn’t. “If Patroclus doesn’t mind, we can take you on our way.” 

“I don’t mind,” Patroclus replied and Achilles nodded at Diomedes, telling him that he could get a lift home.

“Three years of asking and all it takes is Pat saying that he doesn’t mind. Absolutely ridiculous,” Menelaus muttered. Achilles and Patroclus both replied to him at the same time, though they had different responses. Achilles shrugged as best he could with his arm wrapped around Patroclus and said ‘he’s cuter’ while Patroclus’ eyes widened slightly and he quietly replied ‘Pat?’. “What, don’t you like it?” Menelaus asked.

Patroclus shook his head, “it’s not that. I just don’t think anyone has ever called me that.”

“No one’s called you Pat before?” Odysseus asked and Patroclus shook his head. “Why?”

“Uh, I don’t know?”

“Because Patroclus is much better,” Achilles replied easily as they all reached their respective cars. “Obviously.”

They all split up then. Agamemnon had already disappeared, meaning Menelaus was free to take Odysseus and their girlfriends in his car. Achilles, Patroclus and Diomedes got to Achilles’ car, who shook his head and pointed to the back seats when Diomedes went to get in the passenger. “Oh, I get it,” Diomedes said when they were all in the car. “Patroclus means more than your best friend.” 

Achilles scoffed, “what’s with you guys and saying you're my best friend. Stop it.”

“Got it, Patroclus is your BFF.”

“Actually, Briseis is my best friend. She told me in Chem. Also, we sound like children.” 

“We do,” Diomedes nodded solemnly. 

Patroclus turned to face Diomedes, so his hips were angled so that his body was facing Achilles. “And Odysseus said you were his best friend.” 

“He did? How sweet,” Diomedes replied without a hint of irony in his tone. He and Patroclus continued chatting as Achilles drove silently. It was mostly trivial stuff, how their days had gone and Diomedes gave Patroclus some tips for navigating Ilium high’s social circles, which as he put it; could be butt fuck crazy. After about ten minutes they turned onto Patroclus and Diomedes’ road, Patroclus turned back around as Diomedes recounted how much of an asshole his maths teacher was. 

As he turned Patroclus caught sight of his father, who was greeting the guests on their front lawn. Patroclus tensed and the atmosphere in the car got obviously awkward, they drove past with the windows down so his father saying ‘just a couple of teenage delinquents.’ Patroclus looked down. A few moments later they arrived at Diomedes’ house, who jumped out with a rushed goodbye and a promise to tell Patroclus which teachers to avoid during classics tomorrow. “I made that awkward,” Patroclus whispered as they drove. “Sorry.”

“That was your dad?”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t make it awkward,” Achilles said. “I promise. If you want to talk about it, we can.”

Patroclus shrugged. “Nothing to talk about.”

“Clearly,” Achilles muttered looking at Patroclus. 

“I don’t have a great relationship with him but there’s nothing to it.”

“Alright. But if you do want to talk about it,”

“Thank you, Achilles.”

~~

Achilles was grinning at Patroclus from the bed. Their English notes were spread all around him but they had stopped paying attention to them ages ago. Patroclus was glaring back at Achilles, muttering about cute boys and good grades. The grin on Achilles’ face grew as he listened. Standing from the beanbag, Patroclus moved to sit on the bed, his legs beside Achilles’ head. As soon as he had moved Achilles shuffled around so his head was resting on Patroclus’ crossed legs. Patroclus didn’t say anything about it. The two of them had been doing homework, much to Patroclus’ relief, until Achilles had gotten sidetracked and started talking about a kid in his science class. Which lead to the two of them chatting instead of working on English. 

Stretching awkwardly, Achilles reached down to pick up the notes he had made in the second half of English class that day. The first half had been full of them just talking softly together about things that were definitely not English or Epic poetry related. He handed the page up to Patroclus, who had watched the weird movement with raised eyebrows, and smiled up at him. Patroclus handed his notes down to Achilles a moment later. They sat like that for a while; Patroclus against the wall, using Achilles’ head like a paper stand while Achilles lay sideways on the bed, his head in Patroclus’ lap and his free hand tracing patterns across Patroclus’ thigh. Achilles had put music on almost as soon as they had gotten in the room, some alternative music that Patroclus had never heard of (to the extreme disappointment of Achilles), so they weren’t sitting in absolute silence. 

Just as the sun was setting, which was evident because of the large double doors that lead to Achilles’ private deck, Achilles sat up with a groan. He shoved his laptop to the side, after saving the beginning of their essay, and pushed himself so he was sitting side by side with Patroclus against the wall. When he was sitting comfortably he lent his head on Patroclus’ shoulder. “How can you study for this long without getting bored?”

“We’ve been working for like half an hour.”

“Half an hour to long.”

“You’re such a drama queen,” Patroclus muttered. Instead of answering, Achilles sat up, kissed Patroclus’ cheek, stood up, and held out his hand for Patroclus to take. “Where are we going?” 

“Dinner.”

The two of them their way downstairs, hand in hand. Achilles’ dad hadn’t been home when they arrived - contrary to what Achilles had told Patroclus - so he hadn’t actually met the man. Even though he had arrived only a handful of minutes after Achilles and Patroclus, Achilles just hadn’t wanted to leave his room and Peleus hadn’t come up to interrupt them at any time. So, as usual, Patroclus was nervous. He was always sort of nervous, it was just who he was, but right now? It was ten times worse. This was Achilles’ dad, someone that Achilles respected and liked, someone that Patroclus really wanted to make a good impression on. And going off previous experiences, Patroclus wouldn’t call himself good at good first impressions. 

Achilles pulled their hands up to his mouth, kissing the back of Patroclus’ hand softly. “Calm down. You don’t need to be nervous,” he whispered as he did so. They reached the entrance to the dining room, which was just as lavish as the rest of the house. Large rooms, high ceilings, white marble and glistening columns. In the middle sat a long table - enough space to seat at least twenty people - that was set for three. Achilles shrugged when he saw Patroclus looking. “We have a lot of guests.”

Just as he spoke the doors to, what Patroclus assumed to be, the kitchen opened. An older man who looked a lot like Achilles walked out. He stopped, looked at Patroclus and smiled, looking even more like Achilles as he did so. “Patroclus, lovely to meet you.”

“You too.”

“Achilles didn’t stop talking about you last night-” a light blush spread across Achilles’ cheeks as his father spoke “-so it’s nice to put a name to a face.”

“Oh. Thank you for having me,” Patroclus replied. It came out more as a question, however, he wasn’t exactly sure how to reply to the new knowledge Peleus had given him. Peleus smiled at him and then the three of them were making their way to the table. Peleus at the head and then Patroclus and Achilles, side by side, on the left. 

As they ate the salad and chicken Achilles and Peleus discussed what had happened during training. Another scout from a college had said they were coming. Peleus seemed very excited at the news, going on to explaining that he had gone to that college to Patroclus and that he would want Achilles to go as well. “Chiron messaged me,” Peleus said as they were finishing their dinner, “he said he asked you to do some extra training and that you said no to him. You’ve never declined before.” 

“I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to?”

“I’ve got other things other than running to do. Homework and guitar and stuff.”

“Stuff being Patroclus,” Peleus replied. The boy in question ended up choking on his bite of food. Achilles looking over in concern and hitting his back until Patroclus stopped coughing and was able to breathe again. Peleus watched them in a warm amusement. “Sorry, but my point stands.”

Achilles shrugged, his gaze still on Patroclus until he was certain he wasn’t going to continue choking. “Sure. But I’m not adding extra hours, I don’t need it.”

“You don’t.”

“But…”

“But it will look good for the scouts.”

“I don’t want to.”

Peleus stood up, “Alright. It’s up to you. And I’m sure a week of slacking isn’t going to kill you. Good night boys, I’m sure I won’t see you again. Patroclus, you’re welcome here anytime.” 

“Thank you,” Patroclus replied as he and Achilles also stood. Peleus smiled at them, waved, and disappeared out of one of the doors. 

“Come one,” Achilles said, dragging Patroclus out of the room. The plates were still on the table, however, and Patroclus felt like he shouldn’t leave them behind. Achilles, looking back when he noticed Patroclus’ hesitation, shook his head. “We have staff Patroclus.” 

“Staff.”

“Yeah, come on I want to show you my guitar. Since you didn’t let me before.”

“Because we had to do school work!” 

~~

Twenty minutes later saw Patroclus laying on his side on the bed while Achilles sat at his desk chair, his guitar on his lap and music filling the air. Both of them were grinning at the other, just enjoying being in that moment. Patroclus sat up and got off the bed, Achilles raising an eyebrow but not stopping as Patroclus moved so he was sitting on the floor beside Achilles, his body pressed against Achilles’ leg. “Couldn’t get away from me, huh?” Smiled down at him, never stopping the music.

Patroclus smiled at him, leaning his head on Achilles’ knee. “Something like that.” 

“You have to be home after nine, right?” Achilles asked. Patroclus nodded, looking over to the clock on the wall. It had just gone quarter to nine. “I really don’t want you to leave, just so you know.”

“I don’t want to go home.”

“When do you have to be home?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Patroclus muttered. He was pretty sure that his father would be happier if Patroclus never turned up at home again. Achilles was silent for a few beats, the music changing to something softer. Achilles started humming along to the song, his voice in perfect harmony with the music. Patroclus smiled. He really, truly, actually smiled. All negative feelings gone as he listened to Achilles play the guitar and hum along. It was as if the music created an environment where he could only be happy and he never wanted to leave it. Never wanted to leave the room he was in. 

Achilles changed the song again, this time to something that was just the same few chords played softly together. Somehow even softer. “Stay the night.”

“What?”

“Stay the night.”

“I can’t.”

“Why? You’re already here.”

“That’s not - won’t your father care.”

Stopping the guitar, Achilles placed it against his desk, “no. Not at all. He wouldn’t even know. I have clothes you can wear tomorrow and all the stuff you need is here. No reason to say no.”

Patroclus could hardly argue with that logic. “No. I guess there isn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These boys...so gay for each other


	9. Chapter 9

Before he had gotten into the bed, Patroclus had promised himself that he wouldn’t spoon with Achilles. The bed sharing would be professional and they wouldn’t even touch as they slept. That’s what he had told himself anyway. Almost as soon as they got into the bed, both wearing Achilles’ clothes - something Patroclus was very much enjoying - they ended up against each other. Patroclus wasn’t exactly surprised, they touched a lot during the day anyway, but he was disappointed in himself. Because he was finding it very hard to pull away each time they rolled together. He felt dirty with himself. Who felt that way after only two days of knowing each other? It wasn’t exactly normal. 

Around half an hour after they had gotten into the bed, Achilles sighed and turned to lay on his side and looked at Patroclus in the dark. “I can sleep in the living room.”

“Achilles,” Patroclus sighed.

“What? You’re clearly uncomfortable right now.” 

“I’m not.”

Achilles took Patroclus’ hand in his, holding them in between them on the bed. “What’s wrong? Truly.”

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Why?”

“Because we just meet and now I’m sleeping over, in your bed, in your clothes. It’s not normal.”

“So? You’re not normal, you’re awesome. So we have to have an awesome relationship, it’s just the way it’s done. Also, you look really good in my clothes,” Achilles muttered the last part, pressing a kiss to Patroclus’ forehead when he was finished. “Who cares what other people think. It’s ours.” Patroclus sighed dreamily causing Achilles to laugh lightly. “You already mean a lot to me, Patroclus, so I’m happy you’re here. But if you want me to sleep in the living room I will.”

Moving closer to Achilles, Patroclus shook his head. “I really don’t want you to do that.”

~~

“Patroclus you slut.” 

“Excuse me?”

“That’s Achilles’ shirt,” Diomedes said. “And I was watching, he never came to pick you up this morning yet you arrived together. So, Patroclus; you are a slut.”

“That makes Achilles a slut as well.”

Helen nodded, “no one was denying that.”

“What happened?” Small Ajax asked, both of them coming to a stop in front of the bench they were all sitting on. 

“Patroclus slept the night at Peleides’,” Menelaus answered.

“Oh, you slut.”

“Please stop calling him a slut,” Achilles muttered. 

Odysseus clasped his hands together and mocked gasped, “defending your boyfriend's honour, are you?” 

“Is it official?!” Helen asked in clear delight. 

“No,” Patroclus replied as Achilles answered ‘yes.’ Patroclus shook his head, “you gotta ask me first.”

“Lol,” Diomedes said.

Menelaus turned to him, disgust across his face. “Did you just say L-O-L, like out loud?” 

“I did. What are you going to do about?” Diomedes replied, to which Menelaus flicked him on the mouth. Diomedes went to reply but the bell rang, cutting him off and leaving him with a pout. 

Achilles, Patroclus, Menelaus and Agamemnon were the only ones heading towards the English building, so they ended up saying goodbye to everyone else there. Achilles was, at his own instance, carrying his and Patroclus’ books in one arm and was holding Patroclus’ hand in his other. Patroclus had tried to take his own things when they had gotten out of the car but Achilles had all but pushed Patroclus away, telling him; ‘let me court you, dude.’ And how could Patroclus deny logic like that?

The four of them made it to their English class, moving desks so they were sitting beside each other. Achilles and Patroclus had made a small start on their assignment the night before - less than what Patroclus would have liked but, hey, at least he got to listen to Achilles play the guitar - so they were quick to start. Menelaus and Agamemnon, on the other hand, were nowhere near as seamless. Almost instantly the fighting began, they were able to disagree on everything, from what word to where to use it. Achilles rolled his eyes at them more than Patroclus could count but for the most part, he and Patroclus stayed out of it. 

About halfway through the lesson Achilles left for the bathroom, and as soon as he did Menelaus turned to look at him. Agamemnon started to grumble a little about working on his own but Menelaus didn’t even look back. Patroclus finished typing his sentence before turning around to look at Menelaus. He couldn’t even speak because Menelaus started as soon as he had Patroclus’ attention. “So did you stay at Peleides’ house last night?” He asked and Patroclus nodded. “Okay, ‘cause we have a bet going and I need to know if you two had sex.”

“We didn’t!” Patroclus replied quickly, eyes wide. 

Menelaus muttered a curse under his breath, “I put my money down for last night.”

“When did this start?” 

“Monday.”

“Why!?”

A grin spread across his face, “because it’s clearly going to happen and we all want money.”

“You guessed wrong.”

“He must really like you then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think there’s been a single person that’s he actually spent time with, outside of our group, that he hasn’t slept with the same day. You must be special to him.” 

~~

Achilles shook his head, “they don’t know anything.”

“Wait, so you’re-”

“A virgin?” Achilles asked, eyebrows raised. The two of them were walking to the cafeteria after fourth period. Patroclus had brought up the bet when they were alone and Achilles had just grinned, shaking his head. Which had led them to this conversation - and this startling revelation that Patroclus wasn’t exactly sad to hear about. “Yeah, Patroclus, I am. Which is surprising to everyone for some reason that I don’t understand.” 

Patroclus started swinging their intertwined hands, “it’s because you’re popular and good looking. You could point to anyone in the school and they’d sleep with you,” Patroclus replied. He didn’t know what to expect back from that, but Achilles dropping his hand to point at Patroclus’ chest was not it. Once Patroclus had rolled his eyes Achilles let his hand fall back down, reconnecting it with Patroclus’. “You’re an idiot. I hope you know that,” Patroclus muttered as they got to the cafeteria doors.

“Come on,” Achilles said when Patroclus started going to entire the cafeteria, instead Achilles pulled him towards the entrance to the courtyard. “It’s Wednesday-” he said and at Patroclus’ confused face he explained “-we order food on a Wednesday. It’s pizza day and Diomedes is paying.”

“What?”

“We order food -”

“I got it,” Patroclus interrupted. “And the school lets you?” 

Achilles shrugged, “they didn’t. We told them it boosts our moral for sports, they didn’t argue after that.” 

“I’m starting to think this school would let you away with murder,” Patroclus replied. After all, Achilles had left fourth period early today just to be at Patroclus’ class when the bell rang. 

“So long as I can still run fast,” Achilles said. They entered the courtyard as he finished, the courtyard was a large area, the middle of the place wasn’t undercover, the sun shining down, but there was a veranda around the edges, held up by marble columns. In the middle, there was a large patch of grass littered with daisies. There were a few scattered groups of people sitting on benches but no one came close to the group sitting in the middle. “Here we go.”

“This school is so much nicer than my old one.”

Diomedes pointed at them with a slice of pizza as they sat down in the circle. “That’s because we’re better.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Achilles replied getting himself and Patroclus their pizza. Patroclus taking his with a grateful smile. 

“Pat, please tell me that your favourite type,” Helen said. Patroclus nodded, pizza already in his mouth. Odysseus and Menelaus groaned. “Achilles wins the best boyfriend award. He’s already ten times better than you two.”

“Can you imagine them when it’s official?” Penelope asked. Helen looked like she may faint, Patroclus felt like he might pass out due to embarrassment and Achilles looked rather smug at the assessment. 

“I hate you,” Menelaus muttered, Odysseus nodding his agreement. 

Achilles just grinned some more, and then the conversation turned to the camping trip that weekend. The end result was they had to fit ten people between three cars. Helen and Penelope wanted to go together which meant Odysseus and Menelaus were going in one car - Menelaus’ - while both Ajax’s, Agamemnon and Diomedes went in Ajax’s car. Which left Patroclus and Achilles to go up by themselves, and to appease the others they’d be leaving straight after school to get supplies because Achilles had managed to get off training while the others hadn’t. 

Patroclus smiled at Penelope when she handed him a water bottle to drink out of as Achilles argued with Agamemnon on which kind of chocolate was better. And because he had no control of his own body - and because he was watching Achilles gesture wildly instead of what he was doing - Patroclus completely messed up. He tipped the bottle, like he was supposed to, but didn’t realise that the cap had come undone. Water went all down his shirt, pooling in his lap and splashing onto his pizza. 

“Oh,” Patroclus muttered looking at his lap. Almost instantly everyone started laughing but for once Patroclus didn’t feel like he was being laughed at. He didn’t feel like the but of the joke. It was more like they were all laughing together, it was just because of him. Big Ajax handed over the pile of napkins he had beside him and Penelope was apologizing and Achilles was - while trying to hold his own laughter - helping him wipe up. It was a failed mission from the start. There was so much water. 

“What happened?” Achilles asked once all the napkins were soaked. 

“No idea, a lot of water.”

“I can see that,” Achilles replied. Patroclus was still soaked with water, his - Achilles’ - shirt was clinging to him and his jeans were already going stiff. It was hardly comfortable. “Come with me,” Achilles said as he stood. Patroclus following suit, wincing as even more water ended up running down his legs. When they were both standing up Achilles took the hem of Patroclus’ shirt and started pulling it up.

All but shrieking, Patroclus waved his hands away, well aware of all their friends watching with amusement. “What are you doing?”

“You’re wet.”

“Yes. Thank you for being so observant there Achilles.” 

“You can’t walk through school with a wet shirt.”

“And I can’t walk through shirtless either.”

Achilles rolled his eyes, “I was going to give you mine!”

“So you’re shirtless?”

“Yes. Until we get to my locker because I have a spear.” 

“You can’t walk through school shirtless!”

Diomedes cleared his throat, “he’s done it before.”

“Why?”

“A dare,” Achilles replied and went back to trying to take Patroclus’ top off. “Hurry up or you’re going to get sick.”

“Achilles!” Patroclus complained, still swating at his hands. “I’m fine.” 

Instead of replying Achilles stopped trying to take off Patroclus’ shirt and instead took off his own. A few of their friends made some joking noises when he did so but Patroclus paid them no mind. His eyes went wide as he stared at Achilles, now very shirtless, standing right in front of him. Patroclus couldn’t take his eyes of the boy in front of him and the only thing he could think was ‘oh damn’. Which in turn lead to a whole of embarrassment when he realised he was standing there dumbfounded with his friends, everyone in the courtyard and a few people looking out of the cafeteria windows staring at him. He couldn’t even be certain he wasn’t drooling. Even in his spaced-out mindset, he heard Diomedes laughing, and when Patroclus looked over at him Achilles took his chance to take of Patroclus’ shirt, quicking replacing it with his own. Patroclus was probably on shirtless for a moment but the jealous glint was still very present in Achilles’ eyes. 

They left pretty quickly after that, shouting goodbye to their friends Patroclus was dragged inside by Achilles. If Patroclus had though the stares before were bad, they were nothing like today. Although, hardly anyone was staring at Patroclus this time. There wasn’t a single girl that didn’t look with wide eyes and hushed giggles as they walked past. And to be fair, most of the guys did as well. Patroclus swore that he heard the click of a camera as well. Their lockers weren’t far away so Achilles wasn’t shirtless for a long time. Patroclus tried not to feel disappointed when he pulled his shirt back on. 

Achilles looked over at him and winked, “if you want me to take my shirt off again all you have to do is ask.”

“Shut up.”

“Please, you love it.”

“Everyone is staring at us.”

He shrugged, “everyone is always staring-” a pause “-are you jealous?”

“What!” Patroclus said far too fast and far too loud. Clearly jealous. “No.” 

“Okay,” Achilles scoffed, clearly not believing the lie. “I was if you wanted to know. Everyone was staring at you.”

“I think that’s because you ripped my top of like I was a child.”

“No, it’s because you’re nice to look at. Also, if you have taken it off I wouldn’t have had to strip you in the courtyard,” a teacher walked past as Achilles spoke, sending them an annoyed glance as she went by. 

Patroclus shook his head, “you’re impossible.” 

“And you’re jealous.”

“Only a little.”

“It’s progress, I’ll take it. Come on, I’ll walk you to next period,” they started walking back the way they had come, towards the science block. “Are you coming to training tonight?” He asked as they walked. Patroclus nodded, he had nothing else to do and watching Achilles running wasn’t exactly a bad thing. “Are you - do you have to be home, or not home I guess, by a certain time?”

Another student bumped his shoulder against Patroclus’ as they walked down the halls, shouting his apology back as neither stopped. “No? My dad’s not home so I don’t-” he cut himself off with a shrug.

“You don’t have to worry?”

“Achilles.”

“Just making sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine. Promise. Now, go to class and good luck with your test.” Achilles groaned, a smile on his face. He kissed Patroclus’ forehead and was gone, leaving a smiling Patroclus to go to Biology.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note - Some shitty parent content in the beginning.

Friday morning saw Patroclus quickly packing the last of his things for the weekend before Achilles turned up. They were also picking up Diomedes, so he didn’t have to bus with his gear. And Patroclus still hadn’t told his father that he was going away for the weekend, really he doubted his father would even notice if he didn’t but he still felt like he should. So when Achilles texted that he had just arrived at Diomedes’, Patroclus picked up his duffle bag and headed downstairs. 

Menoetius was, as expected, in his office. Patroclus knocked once and waited until he was called in to enter. Menoetius didn’t look up but gestured for him to speak anyway. All very standard for them. “I’m going away, I’ll be back Sunday night.”

“What?”

“My friends and I are going camping. We’ll be back Sunday night.”

“Who are these friends?”

“You don’t know them.”

“I didn’ ask if I knew them. I want names.”

Patroclus shrugged listing them off quickly, “Diomedes, Menelaus, Odysseus, Penelope and Helen, Ajax and Ajax, Agamemnon. Achilles.” 

“Achilles,” Menoetius repeated. “I meet his father. You know he’s a state renowned track star? His father thinks he could make it to the Olympics.” Patroclus nodded, flashes of Achilles running appearing in his mind. He doubted his father would be happy to know what he was thinking about. Menoetius looked up and at Patroclus for the first time during that conversation. The look was icy cold, causing Patroclus to shrink into himself to try and get away. Standard. Menoetius watched him for a few moments before continuing. “He’s going places, his father must be so proud-” he glared at Patroclus as he spoke “-that’s what I want in a son. That is what a son should be.” 

They were silent for some time both thinking about what was just said. It wasn’t unknown to Patroclus that his father didn’t like him. The man valued strength and stamina over intellect, which meant Patroclus could never live up to what his father wanted. The quiet was interrupted by Patroclus’ phone beeping. Either Achilles was outside his house or he had seen something he liked and needed Patroclus to know as well. Whatever way, Patroclus used it. Stepping back into the hallway, his father’s icy gaze still on him. “I’ll see you on Sunday night.”

“If you have to.”

He didn’t reply. 

Outside Achilles was standing beside his car, Diomedes already in the back. When Achilles smiled Menoetius’ words came back to Patroclus, the smile dropping from his face. It wasn’t Achilles’ fault, not at all, but it was still hard to look at him after what his father said. It was even harder seeing as Patroclus believed Menoetius, how could he not? Achilles was all round perfect - good looking, kind, popular, accomplished and still getting better. And Patroclus was none of those things. So no, it wasn’t Achilles. It was Patroclus, and all his faults, that had led to him feeling down.

If Achilles noticed the shift in mood he didn’t say anything, he just took Patroclus’ bag and placed it in the trunk while Patroclus sat down. Diomedes looked up from his phone, grunted out a greeting and went back to the screen. Music was playing through the speakers, Diomedes controlling it from the back. Looking out his window, Patroclus saw his father watching him from his office window. Frown still on his face. Patroclus looked away just as Achilles sat down. “Whatever he said,” Achilles whispered so Diomedes couldn’t hear, “it wasn’t true.” 

“It was, but it doesn’t matter.”

“I can assure you it wasn’t true,” he turned the music down and looked to Diomedes through the mirror. “What time will you guys be getting to the campground?” 

“Like, six? We get off at four. Odysseus and his crew are going to get pizza for dinner on the way up.”

“His crew,” Achilles repeated in a scoff. “Are we boatmen?”

Patroclus looked at him, “boatmen?”

“I forgot the word. Hush or I’m not stopping for coffee.” 

“You’d die if we didn’t.”

“Fine. You got me.”

“Gross. I bet you know each other’s coffee orders,” Diomedes said from the back, groaning when both boys were able to recite the other’s favourites. “Disgusting.”

Achilles grinned into the rearview mirror, “you can’t stop true love.”

“Patroclus I see you’ve stopped correcting Achilles here. Are we all in love?” 

“Shut up.”

“Cool. I’m taking that as a yes,” Diomedes replied. Both Patroclus and Achilles rolled their eyes, leading to more complaining about gross couples from the back. The coffee shop was only the street over from Patroclus’ street so Achilles was already pulling into a park as Diomedes spoke. Patroclus shrugged at Diomedes’ continued complaining, earning a smile from Achilles. Diomedes rolled his eyes and then pretended to gag. Because of that Achilles pointed at him and told him that he was paying for his own coffee. “Was I ever getting a free coffee?”

Stepping out of the car, Achilles laughed. “No. I guess not.” The three of them moved towards the shop, Achilles ordering for Patroclus and himself - going as far as sticking his tongue out when Patroclus offered to pay - and then Diomedes ordered his. They were standing off to one side, Diomedes texting Odysseus about camping. Achilles had his arm around Patroclus’ waist and Patroclus was all but leaning on Achilles. The door opened and a female voice called out for Achilles. 

All three turned to see Deidamea, flanked by four other girls, walking towards them. She ignored Patroclus and Diomedes - who rolled his eyes and went back to his phone - when she got to them. She gave him a look that Patroclus assumed to be flirty but just made both him and Achilles clearly uncomfortable. “Achilles, I didn’t know you came here, I’ve never seen you here before.” 

He shook his head, “Patroclus lives near here. I’ve just started coming here.”

“Oh,” she said looking to the man in question, her eyes honing on Achilles’ arm around his waist. “I come here every Friday with the girls. But we should totally make it a date sometime. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Diomedes, having put his phone away, scoffed and caught the attention of Deidamea. “I don’t think you’re his type.”

“And what is?” Deidamea replied, her tone short and harsh. A change from the sugary sweet tone she used with Achilles. Diomedes’ eyes went wide and he shook his head, muttering about idiots, before going to get their drinks which had just been called out. 

“Well, I think we should go,” Achilles said once Diomedes had picked up the cups. “See you at school.” The three of them turned and walked out much faster then they had walked in, well aware of the girls talking about them. Diomedes handed them their drinks once they were outside, and he was clearly trying to keep laughter at bay. Achilles glared at him but it lacked any real heat. “I have no idea how I’m supposed to handle that.”

“Wear a shirt that just says you’re gay,” Diomedes suggested as they got in the car. “Or, like, a rainbow flag as a cape.”

“I like that one,” Patroclus inputted. 

Achilles raised an eyebrow, “the pride flag cape?”

Patroclus nodded seriously. “Yeah. Makes a statement.”

“I don’t care about making a statement.”

“Make out with Pat in front of people.”

“Oh, I really like that one,” Achilles said, pointedly looking at the boy in question. Patroclus rolled his eyes, the conversation shifting as Achilles drove them the rest of the way to school. 

~~

The rest of the school day went smoothly. Seventh period was about to end and Briseis was telling Patroclus to tell her what happened while they went camping. Patroclus was rolling his eyes but nodded anyway. She continued for a few more moments, well into the time they were supposed to be spending doing the work assigned to them. She had finished hers in record time, just so that she could continue talking to Patroclus, who was amused but also slightly terrified because of her. 

“Okay,” Patroclus said, his voice dropping to be much quieter. “How do you know if you like someone? Like, actually like them and not a crush? Actually, first off, is there a difference or am I going crazy?”

“Does this have anything to do with a certain blonde haired god in the form of a student? As titled by a friend.”

“You have weird friends. But yes.”

She nodded, “well, first off, yeah. There’s a difference. A crush is like ‘oh, this guy is so cute and I wanna hold his hand!’ Where liking someone is like ‘if anyone else touches them I’m gonna kill a bitch.’ Makes sense?”

“No. But I got it.” 

“Where you at?”

“Liking someone.”

Again, she nodded. “Obviously. At least we managed to get here.”

“What do I do?”

“Kiss him.”

“Bri! I don’t know-”

“If he likes you back?” She interrupted, “because he does. I can assure you, one hundred per cent he likes you back.” 

Patroclus shook his head, “I know he does. I’m worried it’s all way to fast. Like, what if it burns out?”

“Dude, Achilles looks at you like you hung the moon and the stars. He’d do anything for you, and he’d do anything to be with you. You’re not going to burn out. Promise.”

“But it is weird that we’re so close already?”

“No.”

Thinking over what she had said Patroclus decided to try it out. The worst that could happen would be that Achilles and him didn’t work out and Patroclus was no longer popular - and probably not liked by the majority of the people at school - which he could deal with. That’s how he had spent his entire school career up until that week. The best that could happen was he spent all his time with Achilles - and by with he meant actually with. Even though he wasn’t exactly sure what a relationship entailed, he wanted it. 

Just then the bell went, meaning that Patroclus was free to meet with Achilles and head up to Pitha with him. Two hours of free time with him and only him that he would be using to his advantage. Or trying to. He wasn’t the smoothest guy in the world. But he could try, and he doubted he had to try all that hard. Achilles seemed happy with anything he said and any time spent with him. Briseis grinned at him, a knowing glint in her eyes. Patroclus shrugged, stuffing his papers into his books as quickly as he could. 

Both of them left the room, their teacher grunting a goodbye. The hallways were jam-packed with students trying to get out, Patroclus came to a stop beside his door. Achilles always met him there, no point trying to go somewhere else. Briseis stopped beside him, they watched other students leaving, trying to get to the weekend faster. A few people waved at or greeted them, which was something Patroclus was still getting used to. Popularity was a very new concept. He didn’t think he’d had people actually go out of their way to acknowledge him, but here it was every day. 

“Well done. You’ve officially made it one week,” Briseis said after a few moments of people watching. Another girl waved at her as she spoke. “How are you feeling? I mean, you have to like it, right? Popular, hot boyfriend, top of the class. What’s not to love.”

“Achilles isn’t my boyfriend,” Patroclus replied. 

“I have to ask him first,” Achilles continued as he came up beside Patroclus and kissing his cheek. “Isn’t that right?”

Briseis rolled her eyes, “yeah. You two don’t look like a couple. Not at all.”

“Shut up,” Patroclus muttered. The three of them started walking down the hall, most of the other students had gone so the halls were almost empty. There were only a few stragglers like themselves. They got to the carpark soon after, Briseis waving and telling them to text her if their relationship ‘progressed any further’ before heading to her friend's car, leaving Achilles and Patroclus alone. 

“I really hope we text her,” Achilles said as they walked. In the distance, they could hear the footballers laughing with each other. 

“I’m sure we will.”

Achilles smiled, “good. Now come on, we need to set up our tent before they can.”

“Why?”

“So we can kick back and relax while they struggle to put up theirs. They never know how to.”

“Well then,” Patroclus said when they got to the car. “We better go.”


	11. Chapter 11

They had been driving for about ten minutes when Patroclus messed up. Instead of being smooth, or sounding at all cool and relaxed he blurted out - quick and loud - “I really like you.” 

Achilles looked over at him, one part confusion one part amusement, and nodded slowly. “I really like you too.”

“I didn’t mean to say that,” Patroclus said, making it even worse. He didn’t mean to say that either. And the reaction was even worse. Achilles’ face fell and his eyes snapped back to the road. Patroclus sighed, cursed, cursed again and then tried it again. “I did mean it. But I didn’t mean to say it like tha- this is not how I planned this conversation going. You’re better at this, take over.” 

The joy returned to Achilles, his eyes as bright as stars again. “You don’t need to be good at this, Patroclus. What you said was perfect.” 

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I do really like you.”

“If I wasn’t driving right now I’d be kissing you. Just so you know.”

Patroclus smiled. “Wait till we pull over.”

~~

Half an hour out from the campsite, Achilles pulled into a supermarket parking lot. Both of them getting out and heading in. They didn’t kiss, much to Achilles annoyance, but they were holding hands. But, then again, that wasn’t exactly uncommon for them. One person smiled at them. Another man tutted and in turn got a very angry Achilles glaring at him, something Patroclus was both scared of and turned on by. A confusing mix that he filed away to think about another day.

They didn’t have to spend much time there, however. Odysseus and Diomedes had sent them a very detailed list and very detailed threats that would come true if the list wasn’t accomplished. Their cart full with everything bar alcohol - which was already in the car thanks to Achilles and Penelope’s parents not over cautious with their own stash. But everything else was there and then they were out. 

“Shit,” Achilles said as they were packing the bags into the car. “I forgot something, stay here?”

Nodding, Patroclus watched as Achilles sprinted into the store before turning back and finishing the job at hand. By the time he had put the cart away, Achilles was also heading back, hands behind his back. When he got to the car, at the same time as Patroclus, he held out a bunch of flowers. A dozen red roses. Patroclus’ eyes went wide as he took them and Achilles sent him a small and somewhat sheepish smile. “I was going to do some grand gesture but I really want to introduce you as my boyfriend too, like, everyone. So I - I got these flowers for you. So, uh, do you want to be my boyfriend?”

Instead of asking Patroclus surged forward, making sure to keep the roses safe, and pressed his lips against Achilles’. Neither really knew what they were doing but it was sweet and it was theirs and that was enough. 

“I really like you,” Achilles said softly when they pulled apart. “So I really hope that was a yes.”

Patroclus, through teary eyes, nodded. Achilles lent forward and kissed him again, softer this time. Slower. 

They got back into the car, smiling (Patroclus flared with embarrassment while Achilles looked as cool as ever) when an older couple whooped at them. The roses were across Patroclus’ lap and he started playing with the petals, careful not to break them, while Achilles drove them to the campsite. “Were they the right choice?” Achilles asked, nodding to them, “I saw them when we went in and thought they looked nice.”

“They’re amazing. Thank you.”

“Don’t need to thank me. Oh, and now you don’t have to give me your potion of the food money.”

“Why on earth not?” Patroclus asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

Achilles grinned, “all boyfriends are paying for their girlfriends.”

“I’m your boyfriend, I could pay for you.” 

“Touche, but I’m still paying.”

“Why can’t I pay for myself?”

He rolled his eyes, “you told me that you only get a set amount every fortnight, right?” He asked, Patroclus nodded and Achilles turned off the main road and onto a dirt one, winding road with signs to the beach. “I don’t have that.”

“I get that money so I can spend it.”

“Ugh, why can’t you let me be sweet?”

“How much did these cost?” Patroclus lifted the flowers up.

Shrugging, Achilles answered seriously, “I didn’t look.”

“You’re already too sweet. I can’t afford to buy you a dozen roses.”

“I don’t need you to, all I need is you.”

“Same!”

Achilles laughed, shaking his head. “Alright, fine, if you insist.”

“Thank you.”

He shook his head again, slowed down, and lent over to kiss Patroclus’ cheek. “You’re adorable.” 

~~ 

“Fuck you, Odysseus. Literally, go drive yourself into a ditch and die.”

“Piss off. At least I’m fucking trying while you’re just standing there like a limp dick, Diomedes.”

“Jesus Christ,” Patroclus muttered and Achilles, who was actually eating popcorn as they watched the drama, nodded. 

On the other side of the lot, Menelaus was pointing at Agamemnon, “you can’t load a dishwasher you can’t put up a tent, what are you good for? Nothing.” 

“At least I’m not the unwanted second child. You’re only here because I am.”

“What the fuck,” Patroclus muttered again, his head snapping between tents. Achilles had been right, it was fun to watch them all struggle while they sat back. Penelope giggled as a patrically nasty insult was hurled at her boyfriend. The two girlfriends were sitting beside Patroclus after Achilles had given him flowers their boyfriends were trying to prove themselves by letting the girls watch them. Ajax and Ajax flopped down in front of the other spectates, their tent having just been erected. “Are they always like this?”

“Oh yeah,” big Ajax nodded. “Every time we come up.”

Little Ajax, who was now drinking and Patroclus had no idea where the bottle had come from, nodded as well. “It’s awesome.”

They sat there for some time, watching as the four others tried to put up three tents. No tent was without a verbal fight and a threat of a physical one. Both Ajaxs started calling out scores for insults as they went. Every time a number was yelled, without fail, a glare was directed at them. And every time Patroclus would try not to smile at it all and (nearly) every time he failed. Penelope and Helen were no better, laughing at their own boyfriends and their friends as they went through the paces. 

When they were finished they all sat down with drinks in hands. The group had formed a sort of messy circle on the grass. “So it’s official?” Diomedes asked, pointing at Achilles and Patroclus. They nodded. Diomedes groaned, handing over a wad of cash to Menelaus - as did both everyone else. 

Achilles threw a small rock at Menelaus, “why are you all so insistent on betting on us?”

“Because,” Menelaus threw the rock, “it’s funny. I knew it would be before we got here because of how they were acting in English. Disgusting.”

“Jealous,” Achilles muttered. 

“I have a girlfriend.” 

Shrugging, Achilles threw the rock back. “Whatever. Are we doing the bonfire tonight or tomorrow?” 

“Tonight,” Diomedes replied. “I wanna drink so much I’m drunk on Sunday.”

“Odd but alright. We can do that,” Achilles replied. “We should get going now then, to make it before the sun goes down.”

Diomedes grinned, “let’s fucking go.”

~~

Patroclus was not one for dancing. Achilles was. So they were at an impasse as the music blared and Achilles pouted. Diomedes was challenging Odysseus to a drinking game - to which Odysseus was very happy to do. Menelaus was cheering them on along with the girls, Ajax and Ajax and Agamemnon were throwing sand at each other because none of them wanted to go back and get marshmallows which they had all forgotten. And Patroclus and Achilles were sitting beside the fire, a shared blanket around their shoulders, and were watching it all godown. 

“It’ll be so fun,” Achilles muttered as Diomedes fell fast first into the sand. 

“I can’t dance,” Patroclus replied, watching Diomedes jump and take another shot while Odysseus groaned. Patroclus couldn’t tell what game they were playing but he figured it was just - let’s drink a lot! 

“I can show you how!”

Resting his cheek on Achilles’ shoulder, he shrugged. “I’ll be embarrassing.”

“No one will remember,” Achilles replied, pointing at a now passed out Lesser Ajax.

“Probably not.” 

“Please,” Achilles whined. Sighing, Patroclus stood up, followed by a grinning Achilles. They stayed standing where they had been sitting, neither wanting to move towards the drunken others. Achilles placed his hands on Patroclus’ hips and pulled him so closer so they were flush against each other. Patroclus’ wrapped his arms around Achilles’ neck, and in response Achilles pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. Both of them grinning as they did so. The music changed to something with a softer beat and Achilles started moving them, rocking them around in a small circle. Patroclus rested his head on Achilles’ shoulder again. Both of them ignoring the shouts from the others as they watched on. 

Achilles, after a kissing Patroclus’ cheek, said: “I’m going to dance with you like this when we’re married.” 

“We’ve only been dating for a few hours,” Patroclus replied with a laugh. 

“I know.”

Patroclus grinned at his boyfriend, laughing when they spun around again. The fire was warm on his back and Achilles was warm on his front and he felt warm in his heart. The entire thing was perfect. The next time they spun around Patroclus tripped over a half-buried log, pushing Achilles as he did so, causing both of them to fall over at the same time, Patroclus landing half on Achilles and half on the sand, Achilles landing on the sand with a groan and then a grin when he saw their position they were in. 

“We’ve only been dating for a few hours,” Achilles echoed, raising an eyebrow and trying to suppress the grin. Patroclus rolled his eyes and went to stand up, only to fall back down when Achilles pulled at his hips. “Don’t move, I quite like this.”

“You’re the most annoying person I’ve ever meet,” Patroclus said as he lent down to kiss Achilles. “I’m serious.”

“Of course.”  
“Hey, lovebirds,” Odysseus called. “Stand up and sober up. We’ve got a problem.” 

They did as they were told, standing up and moving to stand beside the others. They ended up being slightly in front and to the side of everyone else. Who were all suddenly a lot soberer and no longer drinking. The reasoning crystal clear. Coming down the sand dunes where Paris, Hector and their crew of about six other boys. Helen was moved to stand behind Menelaus as they drew closer, Penelope holding her hand. Everyone stood in a tense silence until the newcomers were standing opposite them. 

Menelaus was the first to talk, “what the fuck do you want?”

“We heard that you were coming up here,” Paris shrugged. “Thought we might join in the fun.”

“You’re not invited,” Diomedes said. “So leave.” 

Paris’ jaw clenched. “I don’t think so. We’re just here to have a few and have a good time with our friends. Patroclus, you’re our friend, right? I mean, you’re Hector’s friend anyway, why can’t we stay and hang out with you?”

“Hector and I aren’t friends,” Patroclus replied well aware of everyone staring at him, from both sides. 

“Helen,” Paris turned, ignoring Patroclus now. “Why are you here, we’re having a party at mine tomorrow. You should come.” 

“Go away.”

Diomedes stepped forward after Helen spoke. “You heard her, no one wants you here.”

When Paris went to step towards Diomedes, Hector placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back and shaking his head. There was another tense silence as they stared each other down. Paris went down everyone, glaring at everyone individually until he got to Patroclus and Achilles. His glare narrowing on their joint hands. Achilles’ tightened his grip when he saw what Paris was looking at. Paris threw his head back in laughter and Achilles’ jaw clenched. 

Shaking his own head, Paris chuckled as he spoke. “I can’t believe Achilles Peleides, the best Illium High has to offer is a fucking fag.” 

Another silence as everyone stared at Paris, mostly in disbelief or anger. Even people on his side looked uncomfortable at the declaration. Achilles moved towards him, Patroclus letting him go when Menelaus got there first. Landing a solid punch across the jaw, causing Paris to fall back against the sand. Menelaus went to kick him when Hector stepped in, pushing Menelaus back. It wasn’t aggressive but it was still enough for him to stumble back and to give Hector enough time to pull Paris to his feet. 

“That’s enough,” Hector said as Menelaus spat blood onto the sand. 

Paris glared at Achilles as their people started walking back up the sand. “Watch out, Peleides, now we know what makes you tick.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please prepare for just... so much kissing


	12. Chapter 12

The party mood decreased quickly after that. Helen was quick to check on Menelaus while everyone else congratulated him. Achilles had pulled Patroclus closer to him and looked downright murderous. When she was sure Menelaus was okay (he was basking in the attention his friends were giving him) she went to Patroclus and Achilles, wrapping them both in a hug. “I’m so sorry,” she said as she pulled back. “He’s such a dick and he’s after me and now he’s trying to get to you two. I’m really sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Patroclus replied. Achilles nodded his agreement.

“Yo, Patroclus,” Diomedes called, “what did Paris mean? That you and Hector are friends?” 

“Oh, we’re partners in Bio.”

“Which is such bullshit,” Achilles muttered, no one but Patroclus heard him. Patroclus did, of course, he did based on how close they were standing, and smiled at him. Everyone else looked at him in pity, muttering about how that sucked. Patroclus shrugged them off. Hector wasn’t nice per se but he wasn’t evil. They didn’t really talk aside from when they were doing the assigned work. It wasn’t that bad. Paris seemed like a nightmare though.

Suddenly big Ajax cheered, pulling out an extra big bag of marshmallows from somewhere that no one else saw. “I didn’t forget them!” Clearly, he was expecting praise and not a handful of sand thrown by Ajax and Diomedes (and maybe Odysseus, he denied it but everyone saw three lots of sand being thrown). He groaned and started kicking sand back at them, yelling about being a good friend. By now Odysseus and definitely joined in. Penelope stood near Patroclus, shaking her head, while Menelaus and Helen disappeared up the sand dune. Agamemnon had sat back down, another drink in hand and was complaining about everyone.

Once they had finished with their sand fight everyone ended up sitting around the fire. Helen and Menelaus came back, sitting beside Penelope and Odysseus respectively. Diomedes, after throwing one last handful of sand in the not-so-general direction of Ajax also sat down, well. He lay down in front of Odysseus, Menelaus and the girls, getting kicked in the process but sticking to it. Ajax and Ajax sat down beside Patroclus, who had Achilles sitting on the sand in front of him. 

Drinks were handed around, as were marshmallows and kebab sticks. While they were all roasting their marshmallows - Achilles was also doing Patroclus’ - Menelaus started complaining, not about the fight that had just happened, everyone had seemed to have forgotten that, but about his parents. Because what else is there for a group of teenagers to do? “They didn’t want to let us come because ‘you failed your math pop test Menelaus’,” he made his voice high pitched and threw his hands around. 

“Oh yeah, ‘you’re only pulling a C in English Agamemnon’.” 

Big Ajax groaned, “my dad kept making me do chores and would threaten to cancel the trip if I didn’t do them.”

Little Ajax nodded, “same. My mom abused that power to death.”

“My parents made me babysit my brothers all week,” Helen replied.

“Dad said that if I had to go to every class if I wanted to go, I couldn’t ditch once,” Diomedes said. “It was literally torture. I hated it.” 

“You’re such a drama queen,” Odysseus said. “But I get it. My parents made me do extra shit these last two weeks. Achilles, Pat, what about you?”

Achilles shrugged and then handed Patroclus his marshmallow. “My dad said have fun, say hi to Patroclus. Which I have done.”

“Wait, he said to say hi to Pat and only Pat?” Diomedes asked, “so unfair. We’re tight.”

“No you’re not tight with my father and he said to say hi to my friends, I took it to mean say hi to Patroclus,” everyone looked put out at his words, pouting or glaring at him. He rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. Looking to the sky as if searching for strength to deal with his friends. “Fine, my dad says hi. Better?” He asked, clearly sarcastic but everyone nodded happily. 

“Pat?” Diomedes asked.

Patroclus shrugged, “I told my dad this morning.” 

Everyone to stare at him in disbelief. Patroclus looked at Achilles, who looked upset at what he had found out but masked it behind a reassuring smile. “Oh,” he addressed the group, “I talked to Chiron about the meet, right? Turns out the college reps are coming to the game next Friday. They said they’d come a day early.” Before anyone could get angry, Achilles continued. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you so act surprised when your coach tells you.” 

The conversation very quickly shifted to the news, Patroclus took advantage of that and leant forward and whispered, “thanks.” Achilles kissed his cheek and smiled, shaking his head as if to say there was nothing to be thankful for. 

~~

Not long after that everyone found themselves back at their campsite. Menelaus and Helen were the only ones to stay at the beach. They talked with each other for some time, nothing important but still fun. Agamemnon was the first to go into his tent, he did so because Menelaus came back and instantly started making innuendos much to the behest of his girlfriend. The Ajax’s went soon after that, going to their tent together and ignoring all the jokes sent their way. Achilles and Patroclus agreed to one more drink which very quickly turned into never have I ever. 

They, along with Diomedes, Menelaus, Helen, Odysseus, and Penelope sat in a close circle with drinks in one hand and the other one up with five fingers out. Diomedes went over the rules - if you had done it drink and put down a finger, first person to 0 loses - and then started. “Never have I ever skinny dipped.” Everyone aside from him and Patroclus drank. 

“Seriously?” Achilles asked Patroclus nodded. “We’re changing that. Okay, never have I ever been arrested.”

To everyone’s immense amazement Penelope and Patroclus drank. They were the only ones. Penelope shrugged and refused to share, Odysseus looking very smug. Patroclus also shrugged but did share, “I punched a kid in self-defence. His dad was chief of police. I was arrested but my dad’s a lawyer and got me out. Okay, never have I ever tried to race an animal.”

Achilles groaned but didn’t seem angry, “I told you that in confidence.” 

“What the fuck Achilles?” Penelope asked, Achilles shrugged once and she moved on, “Ok, never have I ever stolen something worth over fifty bucks.”

Helen, glaring at her friend, drank. “I need the new highlighter that was only on sale for one day and I hadn’t gotten paid yet. Never have I ever lied to a teacher.”

Everyone, aside from Helen, drank. She looked extremely smug about it. Menelaus was up next. “Alright, never have I ever stayed the night with a person I met the day before.” Only Achilles and Patroclus drank. 

“Alright,” Odysseus said. “Never have I ever made out with someone I meet that week.” Both Achilles and Patroclus took a sip. “Achilles has one and Patroclus has three. Let’s go lads.”

“Never have I ever,” Diomedes paused, thinking hard about it. By the way he was staring at Achilles and Patroclus it was clear who he was going after. “Never have I ever had sex with someone I meet that month.” No one took a sip and Diomedes looked like he was about to throw his cup at Achilles and Patroclus. “When are you two going to bang!?” He yelled the last part causing a woman in the site next to them to look out of her tent and tell them to be quiet. Diomedes stuttered a sorry, bright red. 

“My turn,” Achilles said and everyone groaned. “Never have I ever gotten into a verbal fight with a teacher.” Every one bar Achilles drank. “Alright; Helen’s on two, Penelope is on two, Odysseus is on two. Diomedes is on two, Menelaus’ on two, Patroclus is on two and I have one. Oh, everyone has two bar me.”

“My turn,” Patroclus said. He could very easily get Achilles out of the game, he knew plenty but he felt bad. He didn’t really want to make his boyfriend lose. Achilles lent over and whispered something to him, everyone else complaining that was against the rules in sync. Patroclus nodded, saying: “never have I ever had a foursome.” Helen, Menelaus, Penelope and Odysseus all drank. Diomedes basically passed out in surprise and amazement. 

Penelope, glaring at Patroclus, took her turn. Getting no one out. It seemed like everyone was ganging up on the two of them after that stunt. Diomedes was all too happy to join in with them even if he hadn’t been called out. Helen went after Penelope, getting Patroclus to one finger with ‘never have I ever walked into the doorway of my seventh period chem class while Brieses and myself laughed.’ That meant everyone aside from Diomedes was down to one. 

“Never have I ever,” Menelaus said, “never have I ever had my friends tape a sign to the back of the car I was driving or being driven in that said ‘first date’ with streamers going off it on the day they first meet.”

“With something so generic how could no one drink?” Achilles asked, scoffing as he and Patroclus lost the game. Neither one minded all that much. “Well done everyone, you proved Patroclus and I are more exciting than you. Now,” he pulled Patroclus up as he stood. “If you’ll excuse us. We’ll see you guys in the morning.” 

“Are you going go to do it?” Diomedes asked before finishing his drink. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Achilles muttered. 

Patroclus shook his head. “We are not.” At the disappointed look on Diomedes’ face, he continued with” “you’re way too involved in our sex life.”

“You’re nonexistent sex life,” Diomedes replied. 

“Still,” Patroclus shrugged. Achilles started moving them back towards their tent, which was purposefully chosen to be as far away as possible. Patroclus waved goodnight to their friends, who returned the favour before he was pulled into the tent. As soon as it was zipped up Achilles was getting undressed, too which Patroclus watched (because of course he was going to) and then asked: “you know we’re not having sex, right?”

Achilles nodded, “yeah. But now we’re dating we can sleep next to each other.”

“We’ve done that.”

“Without clothes, babe.”

“Oh.”

Laughing, Achilles shook his head fondly before organising their bedding. He hadn’t been lying when he said that the tent wasn’t big, really it was designed for one person so they were constantly touching whenever they were inside it. Which wasn’t that big of a deal? It also meant that they would be sleeping right up against each other. As Achilles got their bed ready Patroclus got undressed as well. Definitely distracting his boyfriend and then teasing him about it. They weren’t fully naked, just in boxers, and neither was complaining about the situation at hand. 

As they were getting into the bed a loud crash sounded outside before Odysseus groaned and starting cursing out Diomedes. Who promptly told Odysseus to fuck off and that he was going to bed. Penelope laughed and there was an unmistakable sound of a phone’s camera going off before Odysseus also declared he was going to bed and Penelope wasn’t invited to go with him. Diomedes, who had apparently not gone to bed, then asked: “you sure you want her outside with Menelaus and Helen?” To which someone (probably Diomedes) was pushed off with a grunt. 

“You have weird friends,” Patroclus said. 

“Their your friends as well,” Achilles muttered as he climbed in beside Patroclus. They were cuddled up against each other, Achilles’ arm under Patroclus’ shoulders and Patroclus laying his head on Achilles’ chest. Achilles started tracing random patterns down Patroclus’ arm as they lay there. “But yes, they’re very strange people.” 

“I didn’t have friends in Opus,” Patroclus admitted. 

“Because everyone there are idiots, I think I’ve already said that,” Achilles scoffed. Patroclus smiled into Achilles’ chest. “I’m serious Patroclus, you deserve to be happy.”

“I am,” Patroclus replied. And he was telling the honest truth. So many times he had lied, he had pretended to be happy when he really wasn’t. It had been an act for so long. But now he was here. In Phita with all these people that actually seemed to like him for him. They weren’t acting because his dad was rich. That wasn’t even a factor. He was able to be himself and he was able to be happy. Achilles smiled and it was like the sun was staring straight at Patroclus.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning Achilles rose with the sun, as he always did, and then he woke up Patroclus. Who, in turn, grumbled about idiot boyfriends and tried to go back to sleep. He was woken again when Achilles pressed his nose against his. Patroclus’ eyes were wide as he stared straight into Achilles’. They were frozen for a moment, staring at each other, before Achilles grinned. “Come running with me.”

“You woke me up so that I would come running with you?” Patroclus asked groggily.

“You don’t have to run,” Achilles replied. “Just come down to the beach with me.” 

“I hate you,” Patroclus replied with no heat as he stood up. Achilles was grinning as he got changed, not restraining how happy he was that Patroclus was coming with him. When they were both changed - Patroclus wearing one of Achilles’ sweatshirts because it was so early that it was cold (Achilles really didn’t mind) - they made their way down towards the beach, which wasn’t far at all. “Why,” Patroclus asked when they were stepping onto the sand, “do you run so early every morning?” 

Achilles shrugged, “it’s nice.”

“It’s not.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, look how pretty that is,” Achilles gestured to the ocean. The last few stars were fading out in the sky, the waves crashing providing a soundtrack that couldn’t be rivalled and they were the only ones on the beach. Patroclus shrugged, concerning the point. They didn’t get far from the entrance when Achilles stopped and took his shirt off, Patroclus watching the movement with very little shame. They were dating so he was allowed to look, right? Achilles threw the shirt and told Patroclus to sit before handing him his phone. “Can you time me?”

Patroclus nodded, letting Achilles explain that he was going to run to one of the rocks on the beach and back and that was what he wanted to be timed. It was easy and the distance wasn’t too far, and to make it better Achilles declared that he needed to kiss Patroclus when he came back, to mark when he was finished and all. And hey, Patroclus wasn’t a sporting man, he didn’t know any different. Achilles ran the length five times before collapsing beside Patroclus, placing his head on Patroclus’ calves. 

They stayed there until the sun was fully up and their friends were most likely awake. They walked back hand in hand, sneaking kisses here and there. Both of them were very happy with the new found freedom of kissing the other whenever they wanted. Back at the campsite all their friends were awake and milling around. Most of them were simply laying on the ground with sunglasses on and complaining about each other. Achilles and Patroclus joined in, sitting beside Diomedes and Odysseus as they fought about food. 

“There’s no uber eats out here you egg,” Odysseus threw his hands up, openly glaring at Diomedes, almost challenging him to get dumber. Diomedes replied with some scathing insult that neither Achilles nor Patroclus heard because at the same time big Ajax fell over his own jumper. When they turned their attention back to Odysseus and Diomedes they had already figured out they were going to make cereal and were now discussing their day’s plans. 

“I am not leaving Pitha without going to laser tag,” Penelope said. “No way.” 

Everyone agreed, nodding and murmuring about teams. They all seemed very excited to play and also very determined to win the game. Patroclus looked to Achilles for an explanation but instead, Menelaus explained. “There’s the best laser tag place in the country about ten minutes out of here. We go whenever we come here because Diomedes’ grandfather’s best friend owns the place and he lets us in for free.” 

“Sounds fun,” Patroclus nodded. 

“Great!” Diomedes said. “We should go up today. Then fireworks tonight.”

“You actually brought those?” Odysseus asked, which quickly turned into another fight between the two of them. This time debating the pros and cons of illegal, somewhat dangerous, fireworks. 

~~

Achilles was a very fast driver. Patroclus had never even realised just how fast he was until that day. When they arrived at the laser tag place fifteen minutes before everyone else even though they all left at the same time. Achilles had grinned when Patroclus brought it up, telling him that he liked to go fast. He also admitted that he had another reason behind being so quick. Which Patroclus didn’t get until he was sitting on the car’s bonnet with Achilles in between his legs. 

The others arrived, parked, and promptly started complaining about the two of them. They only pulled apart because it was eleven which meant it was their hour. Everyone made their way inside, still fighting over who was in who’s team. Once inside Diomedes greeted the owner who pointed them to where they could get their vests. Everyone’s moods were high until Diomedes came back in, biting his lip. 

“So, uh, problem.”

“What?” Odysseus asked as he helped Penelope strap up. (She was perfectly capable of doing it, of course, but Odysseus liked helping her anyway). 

“It’s only minor. Uh, the dude that owns this place is one of Hector’s friend's dad.”

“And?” Menelaus asked when Diomedes stopped talking.

Diomedes nodded, turning to get a vest as he spoke. “Hector and all his friends asked if they could play against us and he said yes.” 

Everyone in the room exploded into chaos. It was obvious no one wanted to play against the others. They had gone up there for a fun game with friends that had turned into something that could end in an actual fight. Helen looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack when Achilles cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. “Guys, this is great,” he said as if it was obvious. Clearly, no one else thought so. “We can fight them and win. Beat their arses and let everyone at school know about it.” 

“He has a point,” Agamemnon said as everyone pondered over Achilles’ words. 

“We can total win,” Helen said. “We’re better than them.”

The mood in the room was heightened significantly after they decided this was for the best and people instantly started strategizing. Odysseus came up with most of the plan, Agamemnon and Achilles suggesting a few things here and there that made it. Within five minutes everyone was ready, vests on and guns in hand, and were making their way towards the battlefield. Which was really just a really big field with a whole lot of stuff spread around it. 

As they walked, Achilles fell into step with Patroclus, “stay next to me while we play.”

“It’s laser tag Achilles, they’re not actually going to kill me.”

“Paris is a dick.”

“But is he a murderer?” 

“Probably not.”

They all ended up on one side of the field, facing off against an equal number of Paris’ friends. Diomedes pretended to cock his gun, noise and all. A shrill alarm went off and the game started. The first few moments where just everyone running to take cover before they could get hit. And then it descended into chaos. Pit two groups of people who hate each other against each other in laser tag and they go crazy. The sounds of the guns going off were consent, and people groaning while they had to wait once they got hit was just as common. 

Around five minutes a bell went, meaning there was three-minute break. Everyone reconvened behind a wall made of beer bottles. Odysseus gave everyone a task and a person to target and they were back out there. Patroclus, for his part, was doing well. He was no Achilles or Diomedes - both of which hadn’t been hit and had hit many people - but he was holding his own. He was standing behind a Greek-style statue when Paris found him.

Patroclus shot him but Paris didn’t look all that annoyed that he did. He didn’t even try to shot back. Patroclus decided to leave, not liking the look on Paris’ face when he realised two other guys were standing on either side of him - he shot them for what it was worth - and that meant he was trapped. There was a tense moment where Paris didn’t speak, just stared at Patroclus. 

“I still can't believe Peleides got a boyfriend. It’s almost insulting.”

“Why?” Patroclus asked, “did you want to date him?” 

Paris glared at him, not at all amused. The two other guys looked uncomfortable. “No, but I do want to hurt him. Which I can’t do because he’s just as strong as me -”

“-stronger.”

“-and I don’t like those odds,” Paris finished, ignoring Patroclus. “You, however, are not as strong as me-”

“-doubtful.”

“-So I can fight you, knowing that Peleides will feel bad or guilty or whatever. Bad. That’s what I’m going for.” 

Shrugging, Patroclus prepared for a fight. Sure, Paris was probably going to win but Patroclus did know how to fight. He wasn’t going to lay down and die and he could take a few punches. Heaven knows he already had back at Opus. Paris, however, wasn’t looking for a fair fight. He was just there to win. So instead of taking a swing, which Patroclus was expecting, he lifted the gun a little higher and brought it down on Patroclus’ temple. He went down quickly after that, as is expected, but still managed to block the second swing. 

In the corner of his eye, he saw one of the other two leaving very quickly. Paris took another swing, this one Patroclus couldn’t block and it hit him in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him. Gasping, both in pain and to breath more, he tried to block the next swing but that only ended with his arm flaring up in pain at the gun hit his forearm and hand. Another hit to the head and Patroclus was feeling faint. Really he was trying to stay awake, not to fight back. 

He saw the next swing coming, but never felt it. Instead, he was helped to a sitting position, leaning against the statue, and with swimming vision saw that, in front of him, Achilles was straddling Paris. And it was definitely not sexual. Patroclus cradled his hurt arm to his chest, wincing when it flared with hot pain. Across the field, the manager was running towards them and most of Paris’ friends were running away. Everyone on their team was hovering around them, Helen helping Patroclus to sit upright and wiping at his face. 

Just before the manager got to them Diomedes and Odysseus pulled Achilles of Paris, who didn’t look very good but was still awake. Achilles kicked him again but then focused all of his attention onto Patroclus. “Don’t say I told you so,” was all Patroclus managed to get out with disjointed breath. 

Achilles shook his head, “I would never. Where hurts.”

“Hand and head,” Patroclus muttered, Achilles’ touch ghosting over those areas. The manager got to them, asking if she needed to call the police and that an ambulance was already on its way. Hector, who was still with them, told her not to get the police involved, everyone agreed with him. Patroclus, as soon as he finished speaking, passed out, pitching forward into Achilles’ arms with a muffled moan of pain.

“Oh fuck!” Menelaus just after it happened. Achilles lay Patroclus down so that his head was in his lap and his body was straight out. Helen wiped off the blood that was trickling down from the cut on his arm. Hector and big Ajax helped Paris sit up as well, leaning him against a wall that was beside them. As much as he had more bruises than Patroclus he hadn’t been hit in the head as hard and was conscious. 

“Is he alright?” Diomedes asked. 

“How many times did you hit him?” Big Ajax asked, anger in his tone as he glared at Paris.

“Like, a few times.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Achilles growled not looking away from Patroclus. Paris took his advice and they all sat in silence until Patroclus stirred a few minutes later. Achilles said a silent prayer of thanks to someone and smiled down at his boyfriend. “How you feeling?”

Patroclus grimaced, “shitty.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Little Ajax said, “we won.”

“Of course we did,” Penelope said. 

“An ambulance is on the way,” Achilles said just before distance sirens could be heard. “We’ll make sure you’re all tip-top.”

“My dad’s going to kill me.”

Achilles swiped Patroclus’ hair behind his ear, “move in with me then.” 

“I might have to.” 

A few moments after that the sirens were right outside and then two paramedics were jogging over to them. One went to Paris and one went to Patroclus. Achilles refused to leave his side as they looked him over but everyone else left, promising to meet them at the cars when they were done. Hector stayed with Paris and all their friends had already left by the time the ambulances came. Achilles ignored them and Paris, wisely, stayed quiet. It only took about fifteen minutes for them to be cleared. Patroclus was given strict instructions on how to deal with his head and symptoms to look out for. Both Patroclus and Paris got a sling for one arm and a whole lot of bandages over spilt skin before they were let go. 

As promised, all their friends were sitting or leaning on the cars, and all of them had ice cream in hands. Menelaus threw two more at Achilles when they arrived, who absolutely refused to let Patroclus open his own. As they ate the ice creams Patroclus explained what had happened, up until they had arrived. “Okay, not to make light of a terrible thing,” Odysseus said, “but this is great for school.” 

“I got a concussion.”

“And that sucks, but people are going to love this.”

“I thought they wouldn’t like me because I clearly came out worse?”

Agamemnon shook his head, “you won’t have any bruises or shit. Paris will. Achilles won.”

“Of course I did.”

“And we roasted them with the laser tag. Patroclus, did you know you came second? Second only to me, of course,” Diomedes said. Patroclus shook his head, he had not known that. He had thought Achilles would have done better than him. Achilles didn’t look like he cared about the game. 

“The only problem,” Penelope said, “is people are going to know you two are together now.”

Big Ajax frowned, “they weren't exactly subtle before this.” 

“Yeah, but it was all rumours and no one took it all that seriously. Do you think Paris isn’t going to spread this to everyone in retaliation?” 

“I don’t mind,” Achilles said. “Patroclus?”

“No. It doesn’t bother me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Patroclus, you should care...


	14. Chapter 14

Back at the campsite Patroclus and Achilles were curled up together, leaning against one another to stay upright. Helen and Penelope had borrowed a skipping rope from a family next to them and were challenging each other with it. Their boyfriends cheering them on. All the other boy's bar Diomedes were just lounging around. The Ajaxs were, sadly, working on a math project they had been assigned to do over the weekend and were groaning as they tried to do it. It was all very calm and fairly domestic. 

Until Diomedes came back. He had gone off to somewhere - he wouldn’t say - a while ago and no one had really questioned it. But now he was back and was sitting on a two-person go-kart with two others tied behind it, being towed by Diomedes. He had the biggest grin on his face. A kid in a candy store didn’t even begin to cover it. “Look what I found! They said we can have them for an hour.”

They, because they were reasonable people (and because they didn’t want to pay the fine if they broke them) were sensible about it. Only two people allowed on at once, which was a joke seeing as they were made for children, and no fighting once on. Instantly Penelope and Odysseus were racing Helen and Menelaus while the Ajaxs raced each other. All six of them had declared Patroclus to be the cheerleader. 

From then on it was just a whole bunch of races, at one point Achilles even raced all three go-karts (only because Patroclus asked him to) and of course, he had won. It got pretty vicious a few times, with people trying to sabotage each other or accusations of cheating. A very entertaining way to fill in the afternoon. After their hour was up Diomedes went back and paid for another one, mainly because he still hadn’t bet Odysseus and was getting annoyed so he wasn’t going to stop. Then Agamemnon brought them for another hour because he also couldn’t beat Menelaus. 

“I am the Go-Kart King,” he cried as Agamemnon peddled him around - only after losing yet another race. Odysseus was definitely recording it for his snapshot. “The one and only Go Kart King. Bow down, bitches.” 

About ten minutes before they had to go back Achilles stole a kart from Helen and declared that he and Patroclus - who, by order of Achilles, had not been allowed on one yet - were going for a ride. A few of their friends made some suggestive remarks, which were ignored, and then they were off. They were on their second loop of the campsite when Achilles spoke, after being silent the entire time. “I’m really glad you came with us.”

“So am I,” Patroclus replied smiling at him. 

“Good, I’m glad. Means you’ll want to come back next term, How’s your head feeling?” 

“It’s fine,” at the dubious look Patroclus continued. “Seriously, Achilles. Those painkillers got rid of the headache and I can’t even feel my arm. I’m fine.” 

They were quiet for a few more moments before Achilles asked: “when you said, at the laser tag place you said your dad was going to kill you. Did you, were you being serious about that?” 

“Achilles.”

“Call me paranoid but you don’t have the best relationship with him, that’s what you said to me. So I’m worried.”

“No. My father isn’t going to kill me. I doubt he’ll even notice I’m hurt because that’s the kind of relationship we have. You don’t have to get so worried about me.” With a nod Achilles dropped the subject and started pedalling towards the office. Their time was up. Once the kart was chained up they made their way back to their campsite. “I’m serious, Achilles. About all of it.”

The two of them stopped just before their tents. Out of earshot but in sight. “I’m not going to stop worrying,” Achilles said as he cupped Patroclus’ face. “Just so you know. You’re way too precious.” 

“Worry about yourself. I saw the way Paris was glaring at you. He’s going to be going after you now.”

“You passed out so your judgement is skewed. Paris can’t do anything to me, don’t worry.” 

“He can ruin your reputation.”

“No, he can’t.”

Patroclus shook his head, as best as he could seeing as Achilles was holding it. “People aren’t nice to gay kids Achilles.” 

“I’m not gay, I’m Patro-Sexual.”

“I hate you.”

“Don’t worry about that, he can try to come after my reputation but he will fail. People like me more than him.”

From the tents, big Ajax yelled, “either kiss or get over here so we can discuss.” Achilles didn’t take his hands of Patroclus’ face as he leant in for a kiss. And maybe they put on a bit of a show to annoy their friends but that didn’t really matter. There was a lot of yelling and complaining so they had done a good job. When Achilles pressed, a much more tender, kiss to Patroclus’ forehead Ajax yelled out again: “I meant get over here so we can discuss dinner.” 

“I know.”

~~

“This is so dangerous,” Odysseus said as they stood on the beach.

“Oh, it’s fine babe, promise. And if the police come they’ll arrest Diomedes ‘cause he’s holding them,” Penelope reasoned him. Diomedes looked mildly offended but didn’t comment. Instead, he continued unloading the box of fireworks they had brought. They weren’t 100% legal and were dubious quality at best but they were all they had. “And Achilles’ dad can get him out like he did last time.”

Achilles shook his head, “he said he wasn’t bailing out any of my friends this time.”

Diomedes sighed, “unfair. Wait, Pat, your dad’s a lawyer right?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“So he could get me out?”

“He would not do that.”

Penelope shrugged, “oh well. Lit these bitches up.”

“Jeez,” Odysseus muttered. Everyone started backing up the beach, to what they perceived as a safe distance. Which was basically at the sand dunes. The fireworks were down by the water's edge, so if they did catch on fire they weren’t burn anything and hopefully just fall into the sea, according to Diomedes. So they were up on the other edge. The fireworks were lit up and Diomedes was running up to them. 

Everyone stood up on the sand dunes in a happy silence as they watched the explosions of colours. Achilles had his arm around Patroclus, who was leaning into his side. The breeze was gentle and warm. The waves were crashing in harmony. It was perfect. Once all the fireworks went off, aside from one - which Diomedes quickly kicked into the ocean before fishing it out to put in the bin - they made their way back to the campsite. 

Once up there Patroclus stole one of Achilles’ hoodies (much to his boyfriend's delight) and they joined the others. They only came up for two nights so this was, sadly, their last night camping until the beginning of the next term. Before they left Menelaus and big Ajax had explained to Patroclus that they used the second night to get ‘super-duper shit faced’ (Ajax’s terminology). So Patroclus was fully expecting everyone to start drinking, really he was expecting them to be drunk watching the fireworks but had put their sober state down to safety. 

He could not, however, explaining why no one was drinking as they sat around their tents that night. At first, he had guessed their drinks were spiked, but no one was acting drunk so Patroclus ended up assuming that they weren’t drinking. Finally, after Penelope (the undefeated champion) bet Helen at Snap, Patroclus asked Achilles why no one was drinking. Achilles looked a little confused at the question before answering: “because you can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t drink on your pain meds.”

“You’re not on pain meds. They’re not on pain meds.”

Achilles shook his head, chuckling. “If one man can’t drink, no one drinks.”

“I don’t want to ruin the weekend!” 

“Does it look ruined?” Achilles asked, gesturing to their friends. Who were all having a good time, spiked drinks or not. Patroclus still felt a little guilty over it, however. Achilles sighed and kissed his check. “Don’t stress, babe, no one cares. And we can just drink the alcohol next Friday, so no worries.” Achilles kissed his temple. Patroclus relented, nodding to Achilles before being summoned to play Snap against Penelope. Which he did. And he lost, of course.

~~

The next morning everyone had dampened spirits, no one wanted to go home and have to live in the real world. The group decided to go and get breakfast from a local cafe before having to pack up their stuff and head back. Apparently, the cafe did really good pancakes and Patroclus was happy to try them. It wasn’t very long after that decision was made that they were all squeezed into a table at the cafe. Patroclus pulled out his phone, which had no signal at the campsite, as Diomedes and Menelaus discussed the game that weekend, everyone listening to them. 

He turned on his phone, surprised to see a whole lot of texts coming through. The only people that text him - besides Briseis who already knew that he had no signal - were at the table already and had been with him at the campsite. Opening them he sucked in a breath as his father's name came up. This was never good. They didn’t talk unless Menoetius wanted to yell at his son. The only other time they had text was when Patroclus got jumped and was late home, his father had text him not to come in until after school the next day. 

Preparing himself he reasoned that he could deal. It would probably be a few insults spread amongst complaints of Patroclus being away. Maybe he was annoyed because he thought Patroclus would spend more money then he was given. What Patroclus was not expecting was a screenshot of another text-chat and then a whole lot of all caps messages from his father. He was going to read the screenshot first when the messages sent caught his attention. He felt sick as he read them. He moved onto the screenshot next. It was an unknown number telling his father all about his relationship with Achilles. 

“Pat?” Helen asked, drawing everyone’s attention to him. 

“What’s wrong?” Achilles asked, looking a little frantic at his boyfriend’s appearance. With shaking hands Patroclus handed his phone over to Achilles. His face went from worried to downright murderous within a few seconds. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Who?” Diomedes asked. 

“Paris. That bastard. Fuck!” Achilles rubbed Patroclus’ back softly, a very sweet gesture in comparison to his voice. Resting his head in his hands Patroclus tried not to scream. It was way worse than he could have imagined. His father had kicked him out. 

Achilles lent down and asked, in a whisper, if their friends were allowed to know what happened. Patroclus nodded weekly and then listened as his boyfriend explained how his father had kicked him out for being gay - for being with Achilles. Their friends went from confused to angry just as fast as Achilles. And for a little bit the love Patroclus felt from these people overshadowed what had happened with his father. Then he was reminded of the fact that he was now homeless and the happiness flew away. 

“Hey,” Penelope said drawing Patroclus out of his internal spiral. “It’s going to be fine. I know it seems scary but you’re going to get through this.”

“Should I reply to him?” Patroclus asked. 

“And what? Say it’s not true?” Little Ajax asked. 

It was Agamemnon who spoke up. “Would he believe you though?” 

“No. He wouldn’t.” 

“Look, I’ll call my dad and ask if you can stay over short term until we figure out what we’re going to do,” Achilles said softly. 

“Could he get over it?” Big Ajax asked.

Patroclus shook his head. “He’s not a forget and forgive kind of person.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” Menelaus said. “You know that right?”

On the table, Patroclus’ phone lit up with a new message. It was bright and easy for everyone to read. Much to Patroclus’ horror. As it contained a graphic threat of violence if he ever saw Patroclus on his property. Patroclus picked up his phone as quickly as he could but everyone had seen it. Achilles took Patroclus’ hand softly, rubbing his thumb over Patroclus’ palm. 

“I’m not above sending him a dick pic every day,” Diomedes said suddenly. “If you wanted me to.” 

That quickly defused the situation at hand and the conversations shifted to other topics, much to Patroclus’ relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my 18th Birthday today!!


	15. Chapter 15

Monday was difficult, to say the least. Patroclus had spent all of Sunday evening and most of Sunday night stressing out, crying for a little bit, being consoled by both Achilles and Peleus and trying to figure out what to do. Peleus had promised that Patroclus could stay for as long as he needed, which was nice to hear for Patroclus but still terrifying. He had thought that he could hide this part of his life from his father, and yet here he was. The only upside was that he was sharing a room with Achilles now.

School was no better. As soon as they arrived people looked at them oddly, clearly rumours had spread. A few brave souls asking if it was true, they didn’t deny it seeing as there was no point and it was true (and Achilles really wanted to kiss Patroclus during the day and Patroclus wasn’t able to say no to his pouting boyfriend), and a few dumber idiots tried to harass them, and to their credit, their friends were quick to sort that out. By lunch, no one was coming up to them anymore. 

It got worse when Paris sauntered over to them during the lunch period. He had been absent from all their classes the entire day - some said he was scared of Achilles other said he was at the doctor, Achilles said he couldn’t care less - so there had been no confrontation. As soon as he walked into the cafeteria everyone got quieter, wanting to see what would happen between them. Everyone at the table stood up, standing behind Achilles and Patroclus in silent solidarity. 

“How’s your head?” He asked Patroclus after looking Helen up and down. 

“Great, how’s yours?” 

Paris shrugged, “I’ve been better, thanks. But at least I have a house and a daddy who loves me.”

Now, Achilles had anger management problems at the best of times, something that everyone knew, also known to everyone was he couldn’t control his anger when really provoked. Which meant that not many were surprised when he decked Paris in the jaw. Paris didn’t go down, it wasn’t hard enough for that, but his head did whip around and he grunted as his hand went to cup the red mark. “Careful,” Achilles said, “that pretty face is the only thing you have going for you and that’s the third time you’ve been punched. Wouldn’t want to ruin it.” 

“Fuck you Peleides. Fuck you.”

“No thanks. That’s not your job.”

“Yeah,” Paris scoffed, “it’s Pat’s.”

Achilles shrugged but it was Patroclus who responded. “What Achilles and I do is none of your business. We don’t do threesomes, sorry.” When the cafeteria started laughing was when Paris turned and walked out without another word. Everyone sat down, Diomedes high fiving Patroclus as they did. 

Once the cafeteria was back to normal Helen asked, “so, what happened last night? Fill me in. Are you living with Achilles now?” 

“I wasn’t going to say anything but you are wearing his clothes,” Diomedes said.

“Uh, yeah, until we find something better I have no other choice. And all my stuff is at my dad’s Diomedes.”

“Dad’s gone to get some of his stuff today,” Achilles replied.

“So after a week of knowing each other, you’ve moved in. I’m guessing we can expect wedding invites towards the end of the month?” Odysseus asked, and for his trouble got a tater tot thrown at his head by both Achilles and Patroclus. 

~~

After that little incident with Paris, it seemed the school was taking sides. A lot more people were backing up Achilles and Patroclus but there were still plenty of dirty looks sent to the couple as they walked down the halls. Sometimes Achilles would glare back, sometimes he would ignore them. Patroclus ignored them all. He knew he could take most people at school in a fight but he really didn’t want to. There just wasn’t any point. 

As Patroclus walked to Biology, Penelope in tow, Hector came up to them. His hands were raised in surrender but Patroclus still went on the defensive. Penelope didn’t look too happy at the newcomer either. Out of the corner of his eye, Patroclus saw Telemachus - a freshman Penelope and Odysseus had basically adopted - get out his phone and start typing. Hector came to a stop just in front of them. “I just wanted to say sorry about laser tag, and about what Paris did with your dad. That was a low blow that you didn’t deserve.” 

“You don’t have to apologize for your brother,” Patroclus replied. 

Hector nodded, “but he won’t and you deserve one.”

“It’s fine. We don’t need to talk.”

“Alright, well I’m leaving because Paris has another doctor’s appointment so I won’t be in class. I am sorry about this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Patroclus replied before Hector left. Penelope muttered about revenge and the like before also heading to class, only after giving Telemachus a hug as she walked past. 

In class, Patroclus started messaging Achilles about what had happened. When he felt a shadow fall over him he looked up. Standing in front of him where two people he knew where in the class and who talked to Hector sometimes. That was about all he knew. They were grinning down at him, Patroclus sighed and put his phone down. This wasn’t going to be fun. 

“I heard that your daddy kicked you out,” one of them said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“For fucking Peleides, how awfully sad,” the other said straight away in the most mocking tone Patroclus had ever heard. If people weren’t listening before they were definitely listening now. “So what, you fucking him twice as much now so that you can live with him and his dad. ‘Cause we all know you’re not exactly rich like most of here, not like you can afford rent.”

Patroclus just raised one eyebrow and didn’t respond. Deciding to play bored rather than aggressive. If he didn’t give them anything they would be more likely to leave him alone. The first one kind of repeated himself, louder this time. Someone behind them and in front of Patroclus was filming the whole thing and Patroclus really wanted to come across strong, and not the weak boyfriend of Achilles. When he didn’t reply to that they made another jab about having sex for money before moving to their own seats. Patroclus, still aware he was being filmed, shrugged at the camera and picked up his phone to continue messaging his boyfriend. 

After that people didn’t bother them anymore. 

~~

Later that night saw Achilles and Patroclus eating dinner with Peleus. He was in his own clothing now, seeing as Peleus had gone and gotten most of his stuff. Apparently, his father hadn’t been sad to see it go. It wasn’t awkward as they ate but it wasn’t pleasant either, no one really knew what to say so aside from generic ‘how was your day’ they had eaten in silence. At one particularly loud scrape of his fork on his plate, Patroclus winced and shrunk into himself. 

After some time Peleus spoke up, “Patroclus. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like, you know that right? You don’t have to worry about housing.”

“I know, thank you, I’m looking for jobs now so I can pay rent.”

Achilles scoffed, “you’re not getting a job.” 

“I can’t not.”

“Yes, you can. You don’t have to pay rent.”

“Achilles, I can’t live here without paying.”

“Dad, tell Patroclus he doesn’t need to pay rent.”

Peleus looked amused at the conversation but did as asked, adding “but you can get a job if you want to.” At Achilles’ whining that he shouldn’t have said that Peleus asked, “what reason is there for him to not get one?” 

“That it would cut into my Patroclus time.”

“Oh my god,” Patroclus shook his head. “I can’t.” 

~~

Laying in bed once it was dark was a highlight for Patroclus. Maybe it was because Achilles had his hands running up and down his body. Maybe it was because the two of them hadn’t stopped kissing since they lay down. Maybe it was because Patroclus had his hands threaded through Achilles’ hair and whenever he tugged Achilles would moan. Maybe it was because Achilles had taken his shirt off and that was a sight to behold. Maybe it was because they were pressed so close together Patroclus couldn’t tell where he ended and Achilles began. There were a lot of maybes at that moment. There was also one defiant, that Patroclus had never felt so loved as he did as they lay in their bed. In the dark and only with each other. 

~~

“You two totally did it!” 

“Please keep your voice down.” 

Briseis looked at him like he was crazy before shaking her head and starting her endless questions. What had happened last night, and she wanted details, what Patroclus thought of it all, if they were happy living together. Patroclus had thought Monday last period was bad, but this was something entirely different. And kind of scary. He answered most of the questions, trying not to let his embarrassment show too much as Briseis continued her continuous assault of questioning. 

“So you’re happy, right?” She asked after getting some of the more nitty-gritty questions out of the way. And of course, this was the questions she lowered her voice for. Even though this was the one question Patroclus didn’t mind talking about in front of everyone - his new found sex life not so much. “Like, he treats you right, because I will beat him up if he tries anything just so you know.” 

“I’m very happy. He’s amazing.”

“You’re moving fast.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

She shrugged, “not if you do it sensibly.”

“We are,” Patroclus assured, not going into detail but his dreamy look showing what he was thinking about. 

After he spoke work was handed out to them and the conversation dried up so they could work on the sheet in front of them. About halfway into the period, and just after Patroclus had finished his work, there was a knock, then the door opened and then Achilles entered without real prompt. Everyone in the class looked up to see what was going to happen, this was much more interesting than their work. Achilles talked to the teacher quietly, people looking disappointed that they couldn’t hear what was happening. Their teacher nodded and Achilles called Patroclus’ name, beckoning to leave with him. The other students watched him go, whispered comments passed between friends. 

Once outside Achilles pulled Patroclus into a hug. He didn’t seem to care about the fact everyone in Patroclus’ class could see them. “I don’t know if this is good or bad news,” he started when he pulled back. “Your dad arrived at my house an hour ago with the rest of your stuff. Said he was moving back to Opus and that he doesn't care where you go. Dad told him you’d be living with us and he got annoyed but didn’t do anything. So my dad asked if he was willing to like, lowkey, hand over custody.”

“What?” 

“It’s not legally binding or anything,” Achilles was quick to reassure, not liking how wide Patroclus’ eyes got or how harsh his breathing was. “It’s more like an oral agreement basically saying that my dad has temporary custody over you. And seeing that you’re eighteen in a few months it’s not a huge deal. And dad said he can give up the lowkey custody if you don’t want him to have it, no problem.”

“Your dad wants to be my lowkey guardian?”

Achilles smiled at Patroclus, nodding intently. “Of course he does. If you want him to have it.”

Patroclus pulled Achilles into another hug, the latter picking him up and spinning them around, right there in the middle of the hallway. Patroclus couldn’t care less about who saw them this time. 

“This doesn’t make us brothers though, right?”

Grinning, Achilles kissed Patroclus soundly. “No. No, it doesn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end :0


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions/discussions of abuse in the first part of the chapter.

The first time Patroclus winced Achilles lost his shit. See, Patroclus’ father wasn’t, what Patroclus would describe as, physically abusive. More so he sometimes used force to get his point across. Had done since he was a child. So Patroclus was used to the occasional smack or shove. He knew that it wasn’t exactly the best thing to happen, that other kids didn’t have it, but it was his life. Just like the steady stream of hateful words. Achilles, apparently, had never dealt with it judging by how upset he got. 

It started innocently on Tuesday night. Achilles, Patroclus and Peleus were all having a very lively dinner. The atmosphere was relaxed - much more so then it had been the night before for which all three of them were thankful. Achilles had just finished telling his father about his training that afternoon (and no, the dreamy look on Patroclus’ face was not because Achilles had trained without a shirt) when Peleus started talking about his day. A normal interaction and a normal story. It came to a point where Peleus said something that caused both teens to laugh but at the same time, Peleus waved his arms around - imitating his client as Patroclus would later find out. 

At the time he lost track of what was being said because all he could see was the hand sort of coming towards him. He didn’t duck in cover or anything - past experience proved that useless anyway - he just tensed up, waiting for a hit that wasn’t coming. Nothing he saw as being all that bad, to be honest. Achilles, on the other hand, looked downright furious at the sight in front of him. Peleus didn’t look all that happy either but it was nothing on the anger that Achilles was projecting. Honestly, Patroclus couldn’t trust that Achilles wouldn’t storm over to his old house.

“I think Patroclus and I should go to our room,” he said with a forced smile, standing and pulling Patroclus’ chair out for him. Peleus didn’t say anything as the two of them left the room. Only a few moments later Patroclus was silently sitting on the edge of their bed while Achilles paced in front of him, running his hands through his hair and occasionally tugging on the ends. “Did he ever hit you?”

“Yeah. When I acted up.”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Achilles,” Patroclus sighed, moving to step in the way of his pacing boyfriend. “It’s okay.”

Achilles frowned at Patroclus, cupping his head in his hands. “No, it’s not.”

“It wasn’t often.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Achilles replied shortly. “He hurt you.”

“Only when-”

“If you say when you needed it or deserved it or any other bullshit answer I’m going to go and kill him.”

Patroclus sighed again, resting his hand on Achilles’ chest. His heart was beating harder than what Patroclus thought was healthy. He was going to say something to that effect but decided against it due to the pure rage in Achilles’ eyes. He changed his tune, smiling at his boyfriend, it wasn’t the happiest smile every but it did the job. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m here. And are you going to hit me?”

“I’d rather die.”

“There you go,” Patroclus replied with a small smile, running his own hand over Achilles’ hand that was still cupping his face. The two of them stood in silence for a little bit, almost daring the other person to say anything else on the matter or to try and continue the argument. Finally Achilles relented, moving to sit on the bed with a little sigh but no more words, and of course, he had Patroclus by his side. They sat there, arms around each other and heads resting on each other for some time, just being. 

~~

The second time Patroclus wined, Achilles laughed. It was during their period lunch at school on Wednesday, after a night of not a lot of sleeping for a few reasons they had arrived at school only to have phones shoved in their faces by their friends. Patroclus has just sighed when he saw what was on it. The video of him in biology, ignoring Hector’s friends, was staring at him. Apparently, it had only just been sent to everyone the night before and seeing as how no one could contact them last night, their friends could only confront them now. 

By lunch, Patroclus was ready to snap. If one more of the kids from their ‘side’ came up to him or, more importantly, if one more person from Paris and Hector’s ‘side’ glared or made some snide remark he was going to scream. He simply didn’t care about the (so-called by far too many of his friends) feud and he definitely didn’t want to be the head of it. Achilles was, however, absolutely love it. Achilles shined in the spotlight - which was on him and Patroclus all day. 

Patroclus wincing was due to, while he was sitting at his table at lunch, a kid from his classics class cheered when walking past. This, in turn, caused some other kids sitting near them too as well. Patroclus winced when it happened before banging his head onto the table in front of him and ignoring the laughs from all his friends and boyfriend. Especially his boyfriend. When that was done Odysseus, the only one who wasn’t sitting with them, slid onto the table’s bench. When he cleared his throat, Patroclus sat up, swatting at Achilles when he tried to see his forehead. 

“Okay, I was talking to some people around school.”

“Well done,” Menelaus muttered. 

“Fuck off, ‘kay?” Odysseus smiled sarcastically at his friend before continuing. “So, people are obvs’ teaming up, right? So I was asking around, who has more? You know? Anyway, it turns out that we have way more followers than at first count. More people have turned because of Pat’s video so thanks and we have more girls than them, probably because of that huge bitch fight that happened at the cafe last night between Helen and Paris.”

Achilles looked taken aback, “what happened at the cafe?” 

“If you had answered your family you would have known,” Diomedes muttered.

“We were busy.”

“Busy,” Penelope air quoted.

“We were having a serious discussion before that,” Achilles shot back.

Menelaus scoffed, “yeah who was going to to-” 

Odysseus waved his hand, cutting Menelaus off, “anyway. Do you guys know what this means?”

“Not at all,” Little Ajax replied shrugging. 

“If anything happens we remain popular,” Helen said, “duh.”

“Exactly,” Odysseus nodded. “And we’re going to get more popular this Friday.”

Big Ajax frowned, “what’s happening Friday?”

“Track meet,” Odysseus pointed at Achilles. “Party,” he pointed at Diomedes. 

“Being popular is too hard,” Patroclus moaned, Achilles pat his back. Just as he finished someone else congratulated him on the video. Patroclus groaned and hit his head against the table again, everyone else laughing as he did so. 

~~

The third time Patroclus winced was on Friday, after school, on the sports field. He was standing with Diomedes and Menelaus who were pouting because their game had been cancelled, the school they were supposed to be playing at all gotten sick. Like, all of them, apparently there had been a party and one thing lead to another which lead to Patroclus having to deal with his friends’ shit. 

Penelope and Helen had just joined them, cheerleading outfits on, when a kid fell over in front of them - causing Patroclus to wince. Diomedes, who was closest, helped him up and the kid was on his way. Once he had gone Telemachus appeared out of the changing rooms, laughing with Odysseus as they all walked over. He hugged Penelope and bro fisted with Odysseus before heading away and towards his friends. Once he was gone Menelaus and Diomedes started complaining again causing Patroclus to groan. 

“Cheer up boys,” Helen cut in. “Now we can start the party earlier.” 

“Very true,” Diomedes nodded and the complaining stopped pretty quickly after that. 

Only a few moments after that Achilles came out of the changing rooms. He jogged over to them, Patroclus very much enjoying the site of his boyfriend in skin-tight booty shorts and nothing else. The girls seemed to appreciate the site as well. The sun basically glistened off Achilles’ abs and he positively shined as he smiled at them, coming to a stop. He wrapped one arm around Patroclus’ waist and the entire group headed towards the start line where a whole lot of other people were standing. It seemed like the entire school - or just over half of it - had come to see how Achilles did. 

“They’re the scouts,” Achilles said to Patroclus, nodding to a few men standing with Chiron. 

“You’ve gotta put on a show.”

Achilles, laughed, pressing a kiss to Patroclus’ cheek. “Always do. Hey, go and stand by the finish line for me?”

“Why?”

“So I can kiss you faster,” Achilles rolled his eyes. “Duh.” 

Patroclus smiled at his boyfriend, “good luck. Knock ‘em dead.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Any college you want offered up to you.”

“What college do you want?”

“Haha,” Patroclus deadpanned, Achilles didn’t really look like he wasn’t joking but this was a conversation for another day. Chiron called Achilles and beckoned for him to go him, interrupting whatever Achilles was about to reply and breaking up their moment. As Achilles turned to go to the finish line - after another, not so quick kiss - Patroclus said: “you’re going to kill it out there!” 

When Achilles had left Patroclus moved to his spot, sharing a wave with Briseis in the crowd as he did so. He was standing by someone with a clipboard and a stopwatch who pointed and where he could do stand. Peleus joined him soon after, both of them wearing matching grins. This day was so important for Achilles but neither doubted him for even a second. It just wasn’t a thought that he might not succeed in this race. This was a runner who couldn’t be beaten.

“All he has to do it beat his own record,” Peleus muttered half to himself. “And then he’s done it.”

“He’s been practising so much. No way he won’t do it,” Patroclus said. Peleus smiled, nodding at Patroclus’ words. 

And then he was off. There was five of them racing but Achilles was the one everyone was watching. He ran faster than he had ever run before, pushing himself to new heights just for those few moments. It was only one lap of the 500m track the school had. At about halfway he started slowing, although he was leagues ahead of the other runners. But, as Peleus had said, he was racing himself right now. The others didn’t matter. He needed to prove that he was getting better. At three-quarters of the way, he was the slowest he was going to be because as he neared the exit he got another surge of strength and speed up. 

He crossed the line, continuing to run for a bit before slowing down and heading backwards to Patroclus, still kind of running. Everyone was cheering for him, including Chiron and the scouts didn’t look disappointed. When he got to Patroclus he wrapped him up in a hug, grinning at his dad when he started congratulating his son. Chiron and the scouts were heading over to them, Chiron beaming. They spoke to Peleus first as Achilles was still breathing hard. Once Achilles had gotten his Patroclus fill he turned to the adults. 

“You did it,” Chiron said, looking more excited than Patroclus had ever seen. “One and a half seconds faster.”

“That’s amazing,” Peleus said. He tried to hug his son but it ended in an odd three-way hug because Achilles didn’t let go of his boyfriend. 

“Well done,” Patroclus said once Peleus had stepped back. “Didn’t doubt you could do it for a second.” 

Achilles smiled at him, “thank you. Really.” 

“That was very good. I expect you’re going to hear from us soon,” one of the scouts said when they had Achilles’ attention. Menelaus had told Patroclus what college but he couldn’t remember. The other scouts nodded, murmuring their agreement. Achilles smiled at them, thanking them all for coming out to see him. They seemed won over by him already. Hardly a surprising fact: Achilles was a very charming person. All of them shook hands with Achilles and Peleus before leaving with Chiron, after the coach congratulated Achilles. 

As soon as the scouts were gone their friends were surrounding them. Peleus laughed at them and stepped back after Diomedes had high fived him. Achilles was lifted up onto Menelaus and Odysseus shoulders and only a few moments later Patroclus was on both Ajax’s, holding hands with Achilles. People from their classes were crowding around them now, cheering for their star athlete, the group started moving towards the car park. Once they got their Achilles and Patroclus were put down, they didn’t break hands. 

“And, of course, party at mine at eight!” Diomedes said before clocking some of the adults looking at them with raised eyebrows. “Completely PG, no alcohol or drugs or sex. None whatsoever. We are just going to celebrate Achilles!” 

A few students laughed as they headed away, some of them shaking their heads, and Diomedes looked over at his friends, “don’t worry guys. I have booze.”

“Thank you,” Odysseus deadpanned. “I was worried.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discussion of Sexual Assult here. Be aware.

The party was in full swing when Patroclus and Achilles drove onto the street. They had gone home after the track meet to get change, and some pre-party celebrations for themselves, before heading over. Patroclus wasn’t nervous, he knew most of the people already and he was good with people, but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. But that could be because he would much rather stay at home with Achilles. 

Achilles parked in Diomedes’ driveway, next to Menelaus’ car, and told his boyfriend that they were the only ones who were allowed to park there - everyone else had to park on the street. When the car was off Patroclus went to get out, sending Achilles a confused look when he reached behind them. Achilles shrugged and kept looking for something so Patroclus got out. The night air was pretty cold, it nipped at Patroclus’ exposed arm and he frowned, thinking of his jacket hanging beside the front door. 

A few students waved at him as they entered the house and then Achilles was getting out, a satisfied smirk on his face. Patroclus pushed off from where he was leaning on the car and asked, “what?”

“Here,” Achilles handed something over. It took Patroclus a moment to figure it out in the dark lighting. Achilles’ jacket. His letterman jacket with Peleides written across the back. 

“Staking your claim?” Patroclus asked as he took it and shrugged it on, trying to hide his smile. 

Shrugging, Achilles stepped forward and zipped it up partly. “Yeah.”

“You’re so cheesy.”

“You have to wear it because it’s my day. We’re celebrating.”

“It’s mine now. I’m not giving it back.”

“Good,” Achilles said before kissing his boyfriend. They didn’t stop until a beer cap was thrown at them. Pulling apart they turned to see Odysseus and Menelaus standing on the front porch, more caps in their hands. “Can we help you?”

Odysseus threw another cap which Achilles caught and threw back. “You have vodka in your car.”

“I do?”

“Fuck off and give me my alcohol,” Menelaus scowled. 

“My alcohol. It’s my trunk, get it yourself. Patroclus and I are busy,” Achilles responded dismissively. Menelaus and Odysseus shoved past them, heading towards the alcohol without another word. Achilles shook his head and grabbed Patroclus’ hand, pulling him into the house. 

Inside was a lot warmer than out, bodies packed together and bouncing to a beat that shook the windows. When Achilles walked in people cheered, moving to congratulate him on his win that afternoon. Very quickly they were both surrounded by people before Helen was pulling them into the kitchen. There were a lot fewer people standing in there, mainly just their friends. A half done game of beer pong was set up on the kitchen bench, girlfriends vs boyfriends. Odysseus groaned as soon as he walked in as Penelope had just sunk another ball in one of their cups. 

“Drink up baby,” she cooed.

“It’s like you want me dead. You’re killing my liver.”

“Be better then.”

Odysseus pouted at her before taking the cup and chugging the beer. He bounced his ball, getting it in her cup and cheering. “Drink up babe.”

“Gladly.”

Achilles handed Patroclus a red cup, his own in hand. Patroclus was about to drink when Penelope gasped, saying; “Pat, can you drink that?”

“Yeah?”

“Your pain meds!”

“Oh,” he smiled and shook his head. “I haven’t taken any. It’s all good.” 

She smiled, “good. Drinkings good.” And with that, she sunk another ball into her boyfriend's cup. 

~~

Half an hour later Patroclus was pretty buzzed. He and Achilles were happily dancing - ie making out and kind of moving around - in the living room. Diomedes, who had drunk a lot more than them, was dancing on a table and screaming to the lyrics of an old Beyonce song while Menelaus and big Ajax cheered him on. Occasionally someone would come up and congratulate Achilles but they were dismissed soon after and he got back to dancing - making out with - Patroclus. All in all the party was going really well.

Which meant that something bad just had to happen.

Patroclus and Achilles didn’t realise anything was happening until the Menelaus came running up to them, clearly panicking with Penelope flanking him, equally as freaked. He pulled them apart, both boys going to complain until they saw the looks on their faces. Ajax, the little one, and Odysseus arrived beside them, shaking their heads causing Menelaus to cuss loudly. “Have either of you seen Helen?” He asked, his voice tight with concern and anger, both of them shook their heads. “Fuck! Paris messaged her, threatening to find her, and now I can’t find her. And there’s way too many people here!” 

“Alright, we’ll find her,” Achilles promised. He then whistled extremely loudly, like loud enough to drown out the music and singing, so that everyone could hear him. Patroclus didn’t even know he could whistle that loud. “Cops! The cops are coming,” he shouted once he had everyone's attention. Almost instantly the entire floor was emptied, kids running out of the house. The music was stopped and it was only them and their friends left but Menelaus looked no less concerned. 

“What now?” Big Ajax, who had just arrived in the living room, asked.

“Spilt up and try and find her,” Penelope answered quickly. They were about to do that when there was a loud bang from upstairs and then a man cursing - yelling loud enough for everyone to hear: ‘you’re a whore Helen’.

Everyone was moving upstairs almost instantly, moving towards Diomedes bedroom where another crash sounded. They burst into the room only taking a second to survey what was happening before Menelaus was pouncing on Paris, pulling him off Helen and pushing him against the wall, landing a punch on his jaw. Penelope moved to help Helen sit up, wiping the blood off her lip. They let Menelaus punch Paris a few more times before Achilles stepped in. 

“I’m going to destroy you,” Menelaus promised, struggling in Achilles’ arms. “I’m going to kill you.”

“No one is killing anyone,” Achilles replied, passing Menelaus to Diomedes. 

“Yeah, I’m not going to jail,” Diomedes said as Menelaus calmed down and Helen’s sobs slowed down. 

Paris was glaring at them all individually. Someone - definitely Penelope - threw one of Diomedes shoes at him. It hit his side and he grunted but didn’t retaliate, understanding he wouldn’t win if he did. Which was one of the smartest things he could do, seeing as there wasn’t a single person in the room that wouldn’t punch him as hard as they could if they were allowed to. “Whatever, keep your whore. I don’t even want her anymore. She’s to much trouble.” 

“Fuck you,” Helen replied, wiping at her eyes. “Seriously, fuck you.” 

“Oh come on babe.”

“Die in a hole.”

“Whatever.”

There were a few moments of silence before Diomedes asked, “what do we do with him?” 

“Kill him,” Menelaus replied.

“Helen,” Penelope said, “what do you want to do?”

She shrugged in response. Achilles cleared his throat, “we could bring it up with the principal.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure the school doesn't want a sexual predator on the football team coming into game season.” 

“They wouldn't kick me out, I’m a star player.”

Achilles smiled, “they would if we all threatened to leave. I’m sure the school values me over you.”

“Half the football team would leave,” Diomedes nodded. 

“The cheerleaders would as well,” Penelope replied. 

“You’re not worth that,” Achilles finished. “You know it. And the school knows it as well.”

Paris pushed himself up off the floor. Grimacing as he did so. “Well, we’ll see on Monday who comes out on top, then.” He then walked out, everyone moving so that he could leave. 

“You guys don’t have to do this for me,” Helen muttered once the front door had slammed closed. Menelaus was quick to move to her side other side, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her forehead softly. No one in the room agreed with her, it was clear that they didn’t. Paris was a grade A asshole to all of them, and this was the worst thing yet, they weren't going to let it slide. “Seriously. I don’t want you to lose your places because of me.”

“They’d rather lose him then all of us,” Menelaus responded. 

“What if all his friends go with him?” She asked.

“They’re all selfish,” Achilles replied. “They wouldn’t.” 

Now holding her boyfriend’s hand, Helen asked: “do you think he’ll leave me alone if this works?” 

“Yeah,” Odysseus nodded. “He won’t have any social standing left. Getting kicked off the team just before season starts is social suicide. No one will care about him anymore, he won’t have time to harass you because he’ll be trying to get popular again.”

“And we can make sure that doesn't happen,” Penelope said. 

Helen rested her head on Menelaus’ shoulder, muttering a thanks. Everyone else took that as a sign to leave, to let them have their space so they walked out. Downstairs was absolutely trashed; bottles left laying everywhere, the smell was awful and a couch was knocked onto its side. Achilles laughed when he saw the mess, wished Diomedes good luck and pulled Patroclus outside. The cold air was an instant relief, neither had realised how hot it had been inside. Their car had been left alone but Menelaus’ bonnet had been covered in flour - Paris or drunken idiot? No one knew. 

They got into their car and Achilles started driving. He didn’t go towards their house though, instead, he went down towards the beach. Parking just in front of the sand he got out, rushing around to open the door for Patroclus. The two of them toed off their shoes and headed down to the water. The air was damp, warm enough to be comfortable but a little too heavy. The stars were shining brightly down on them, perfect constellations visible in the night sky. They sat down with their feet in the surf, not caring about their jeans getting damp.

“Can I ask you a question?” Achilles asked.

“Of course.”

“You said that you didn’t believe in soulmates. That you hadn’t gotten enough proof that true love could be real. Do you still think that?”

Patroclus shook his head. 

“Good. Good.”

“When I lived in Opus I had no one. No friends, no family, no nothing. My mother was the only one who loved me and I barely remember her. So, so when I said I hadn't had any love I didn’t just mean romantic love. Does that make sense?” Patroclus asked and Achilles nodded silently. “Now, I have a whole lot of people who care for me. Right? And then there’s you, and I can’t describe our relationship as anything less than soulmates. So I have to believe in them.”

Achilles joined their hands. “You’re absolutely, undoubtedly, perfect. I hope you know that.” 

“I think that’s you.”

“Nope, you’re the best person I have ever meet.”

“So are you.”

Grinning, Achilles kissed Patroclus’ temple. “I guess we’re perfect for each other then.” 

~~

That Monday they all went into school early, a case already made and ready to present to their principle, Calchas. Basically, no other students were around as they all pulled into the parking lot and made their way to the offices. They went straight to the principal's office, ignoring the fact that the door was closed and the office lady yelling at them to stop, they walked in. Calchas looked up in surprise, “can I help you?” 

“Paris-” Menelaus started but Calchas cut him off.

“I can’t do anything to him without proof. We’ve discussed this before.” 

“We have proof,” Menelaus replied. “He sexually assaulted Helen at a party on Friday night.” 

Calchas sighed, “what proof.”

“Threatening text messages,” Helen said stepping forward and handing him her phone. 

“I’m sorry these weren’t sent to you but I can’t do anything about it. This isn’t enough. I’m sorry.”

Ajax, the bigger, handed him his phone a video already ready to play. “I filmed us going into the room.” 

“Alright,” Calchas said, pressing play. The video was very short on purpose, cut to leave out Menelaus punching Paris. He didn’t look convinced, about to sigh again, already shaking his head, as he handed the phone back to Ajax. 

“He also bet up Patroclus, bad,” Helen said. No one had prepared for that. “We were playing laser tag and he attacked Patroclus because he’s dating Achilles. So he’s a homophobic sexual predator.” 

“Do you have proof?”

Achilles nodded, “photos of the aftermath.” He took out his phone and swiped through his photo albums until he found the few photos he had taken of Patroclus getting treated. 

“Okay. I do believe that this happened but why tell me. Go to the police.” 

“Paris is rich and his dad is a lawyer,” Achilles replied, he was right about that so everyone started nodding along as he spoke. “No point because nothing will happen if we do go to them. We’re telling you because you can kick him off the football team, you can make coach get rid of him. That’s actually going to hurt him, make him understand that he can’t get away with this, nothing else will. You have to see that, right?”

“Look, this is bad but kicking him off the football team is a bit dramatic.”

“If he doesn’t go, I’m going,” Menelaus replied. 

Diomedes nodded looking more serious then Patroclus had ever seen, “so am I.” Both Ajax’s nodded and agreed, and then Agamemnon did as well. “I’m not playing with someone like him.”

“All the cheerleaders will leave,” Penelope said holding up her phone to show a group chat with all the girls. “We’re not supporting him.”

“A very united stand but, you’re asking a lot here. You understand that. Please think about that,” Calchas replied, looking more worried than before. But it didn’t seem like he would budge.

“He’s calling you bluff,” Patroclus muttered to Achilles. 

Achilles stood up straighter, “I’ll also be quitting the track team. I won’t compete for a school that lets someone like Paris be a star in their football team.”

“Look, Achilles, please just think about this.”

“Paris’ father is a high powered lawyer, but so is mine. Paris has discriminated against me and my boyfriend and has harassed us on multiple occasions at school, during the school day. I’m sure everyone, the media lets say, would like to know that you did nothing when a group of students came to tell you that one of your star footballers is a homophobic sexual harasser.”

Calchas sighed, but this time he was defeated. “I’ll talk to the coach.”

They all nodded their thanks and left the room. Helen jumping to hug Achilles, repeating her thanks over and over. Menelaus looked like he was only a moment away from doing the same. Achilles promised her that he would keep Calchas to his word before grabbing Patroclus’ hand. The two of them started walking away from the group as everyone split off into their own conversations. Menelaus cleared his throat, looking at them, “English is the other way, dumbass.”

“We’re not going to English just yet,” Achilles replied. Patroclus lightly swatted at his arm for being so crass but couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy the reaction their friends gave. Grimaces and groans and even a middle finger. As they were walking away, Diomedes shouted after them to use protection. Achilles sighed, shaking his head, which caused Patroclus to laugh at his boyfriend. He really, really, enjoyed this school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a small chapter to go!! 
> 
> #FuckParis


	18. Chapter 18

“Achilles, I swear to god, I am going to kill you.”

“You love me.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t kill you.”

“Life would be horrible without me.”

“Better than this.”

“You’re being mean,” the door opened and Peleus stepped in, “dad, Patroclus is being mean to me.”

Patroclus rolled his eyes, shoving at Achilles’ shoulder. They were sitting side by side on their bed, a whole lot of college packets spread out around them and a whole lot of junk food to their side. Achilles, not moving from the lighthearted shove, picked up the pack that was sitting on his lap and waved it around like a flag. Before he could speak Patroclus cut in, “he wants to go to college for me, tell him that’s idiotic.”

“I stopped telling Achilles he’s being an idiot a long time ago, it never works out,” Peleus said as he sat on the edge of the bed. Achilles handed him the college packet, letting him read over it. Peleus did so, nodding as he went through it. “Why this one?”

“This is where Patroclus got his scholarship to,” Achilles said as if it was obvious. “And it has my major there so I can go, no problem.”

“Achilles!” Patroclus cried. “You were offered three scholarships to the best schools around and you’re choosing to go to this one because of me! The track team is a joke there.”

Peleus picked up the packet for the school Achilles had been looking at before Patroclus’ scholarship had come through. “Why don’t you both go here.”

“Because,” Patroclus replied flipping to the back where the prices were.

“Patroclus,” Achilles sighed shaking his head.

“I can’t afford to get that much into debt Achilles. This college is almost all free.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Patroclus. I’ll be paying for you to go.” Patroclus shook his head and went to argue but Peleus stopped him. “I’ve been saving up for Achilles since he started school, he doesn’t need it so you can have it. Both of you were offered scholarships and I’ll pay for one of you to go. It’s up to you to decide where you go.” He ruffled both their hair - getting groans in reply - and left them to continue deciding where to go. It took them a while but in the end, they decided to go with Achilles’ first choice and where he had gotten a scholarship. The nursing program there was highly regarded and their track team was the best in the country.

Achilles, when they had decided, grinned over at his boyfriend. “We’re going to college babe, can you believe it?”

“Not really,” Patroclus replied as he played with Achilles’ fingers. “It’s crazy.”

“College, graduation, engagement, work, marriage, maybe a bit more work, family. That’s the plan now.”

“Really?” Nodding, Achilles looked so sure of himself Patroclus couldn’t doubt him. “When we first got together I thought you would see all the flaws I had and would hate me for them, did you know that?”

With a little shrug Achilles answered, “I could kind of tell. Wasn’t true, but I could see you thought it. Do you still believe that?”

“Sometimes. Not as often as before.”

“Don’t doubt yourself,” Achilles said kissing Patroclus’ forehead. “You’re amazing and I love you so much. Now, we should probably message our friends what we chose, I think they’re going to kill us if we don’t soon.”

Patroclus groaned. “Oh my god, I forgot they’re going there.”

“Their football team is great, good sports program.”

“I’m sure Odysseus is happy.”

“Especially because Penelope isn’t going to the there.”

“He’s going to be insufferable.”

Achilles laughed, “I’m telling him you said that.”

“Why can they do long distance but we can’t?”

“Easy. First, of, I don’t want to. Secondly, they’re about twenty minutes from each other and you would have been like a day away.”

“I love you,” Patroclus said dropping the pack in his hand and moved to sit closer to him, “so much.”

“Love you too. I love everything about you,” Achilles said as he grabbed Patroclus’ hips and pulled him to straddle his lap. He traced his fingers under Patroclus’ eyes, “this,” he twirled a part of Patroclus’ hair “and this,” his hands rolled down Patroclus’ side, “and this.”

Resting his head on Achilles’ shoulder, Patroclus smiled into his skin, “and this and this and this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh! It's done! 
> 
> I'm one part sad and one part relieved that we're done. I love this fic but I am so happy they have their happy ending! 
> 
> Stay tuned for some more TSOA/Iliad fics (I have a few in mind!)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
